Detailed guide putting parents in the picture
TODAY we launch the 2020 Real Schools Guide – the eighth edition of the most comprehensive guide ever to state-funded secondaries.
Our unique rating system uses 51 different measures, put together from the latest publicly-available data and broken into four categories – attainment, teaching, attendance, and outcomes.
National league tables may only look at GCSE results or Attainment 8, which means schools that help all pupils make progress, but only get slightly better than average exam scores overall, may be overlooked. Even those that include the new Progress 8 measure may overlook schools helping all pupils do well.
Our system aims to move beyond these limited measurements and give parents a better idea of which schools will help their child prosper, no matter what their background may be.
The guide factors in other things as well – like whether all pupils are making progress, what attendance is like, the ratio of teachers to pupils, and whether students go on to further education or jobs.
Attainment is worth 30 per cent of the total score. This is based on pupils’ Attainment 8, EBacc and GCSE performance in 2019.
We measure whether a school is getting top marks, and if it is managing to improve its GCSE results year-on-year.
Progress is worth 40 per cent of the score. It is based on how well all as well as different types of pupils do in comparison to expectations, based on both Progress 8 and value added, and how well the school does at closing the gender gap.
It also looks at how big the pupil/ teacher ratio is in comparison to the national average, as well as teachers’ average salaries.
The attendance score is based on absence rates, looking at both overall levels of sessions missed as well as unauthorised and persistent absence at the school. It is worth 15 per cent of the total score.
Outcomes is also worth 15 per cent, and is based on what proportion of pupils continue with education, employment or training after Year 11, and what proportion become leave employment, education or training within three months – in comparison to the national average.
Different measures are given weightings based on how important they are likely to be to parents – so the average Attainment 8 and Progress 8 score is worth a maximum of eight points, while the difference between average teacher salary in 2018/19 and national average is worth just 0.75 points.
Scores are worked out by giving the best performing school in each category top marks, with all other schools receiving points adjusted according to their comparative performance.
Schools where performance is below average can receive negative points up to a maximum of –0.5. Scores for each measure are then added together to get a total score for each category, and all the scores are added together to get a total.
This total is adjusted to ensure no school can receive a negative total.
Stars are allocated by rating all the scores in order for each indicator and then splitting schools into five equally sized groups.
Not all schools have data for every measure. Some schools are so tiny that the data has been suppressed to avoid identifying pupils.
Schools are not penalised for not having data, and only schools with below-average performance can receive negative points.
However, not having data means a school cannot score extra points for that measure, potentially putting them behind schools that do not have missing data.
Schools that had no Year 11 pupils taking Attainment 8 qualifying subjects in 2019 are not rated, while schools that had no Year 11 pupils in 2016/17 do not have a rating for Outcomes.