HowdoProgresswork?

No qualificationsoutside of the EBaccsubjects or approved listcount. Non-EBacc subjects fromthe approved list for basket threecannot be used in basket two.If a student has not takenenough EBacc subjects to fillbasket two, then they receivea score of zero for each “vacant”place. For basket three, if thestudent does not have enoughqualifications to fill the threeplaces, vacant places willagain score zero.The total points scoredacross the three baskets,including doubleweighting for Englishand maths, gives youthe Attainment 8 score.

score equivalent to thenumerical grade (so a grade5 would be awarded fivepoints). For those on the oldsystem, an A* will be wortheight-and-a-half points,an A will be worth seven,a B five-and-a-half, a C four,a D three, an E two, an Fone-and-a-half and a G one.

● In 2019, all GCSEs will usethe 1-9 grade scale andpoints will be equivalentto the grade awarded.

The basic-point scoreFrom 2016, for every gradethat a student achieves atGCSE, they will be awardeda set number of points.● In 2016, the A*-G gradingsystem will be in place.Students will get eight pointsfor an A*, down to one pointfor a G (an A would be worthseven points, a B would besix points and so on).

● In 2017 and 2018, the 1-9grading system will be phasedin. Those qualifications on thenew system will receive a point

Not all subject scores willcount towards a student’sAttainment 8 score, and schoolscannot choose the subjectsthat should count. Instead, astudent’s highest scores fromthree ‘baskets’ of government-selected subjects are addedtogether to give the finalAttainment 8 score.

Basket 1English andmathsA student’s scores in Englishand maths count as double,although in English this isonly the case if students takeGCSEs in English languageand English literature. For 2016,a combined qualification willget double points; if the twoseparate papers are taken, thehighest grade counts.

Basket 2EBacc subjectsA student’s three highestscores in the EBacc subjects.

Basket 3EBacc subjects orapproved qualificationsA student’s three highestscores from EBacc subjects notalready used, or qualificationsfrom a government list*.

The Attainment 8 score

*For a list of the approved non-EBacc qualifications,see bit.ly/Basket3 and bit.ly/Pro8vocations

A quick guide for scho

doesgress 8ork?

ComplicationsSkewed resultsSome schools’ Progress 8 scores are morelikely than others to be a fair reflection of theirperformance. For instance, if a school hasa particularly small cohort, the performanceof a small number of pupils could skew itsresult. So each school’s Progress 8 score isgiven a “confidence interval” that indicateshow statistically significant the result is.

DiscountingThe Department for Education has guardedagainst schools boosting their performance-table scores by entering pupils for two or morequalifications with overlapping content, forwhich they would only need to take one courseof study. Qualifications are given a “discountcode” based on the subject area they cover.Similar qualifications are given the samediscount code, and a school cannot use twoqualifications with the same discount codetowards a pupil’s Attainment 8 score, even if theyare in different baskets. Discount codes can befound at bit.ly/Progress8DiscountCodes

● To calculate the schoolProgress 8 score, theindividual score of everystudent in the year groupis added together andthen divided by the totalnumber of pupils.

Case studiesAnna’s Progress 8 scoreAnna has an Attainment 8 scoreof 63. Her estimated Attainment 8score is 68. So her Progress 8score is -0.5 (63 minus 68, dividedby 10). This means that she hasscored, on average, half a gradelower per subject than other pupilswith the same KS2 scores.

Billy’s Progress 8 scoreBilly has an Attainment 8 scoreof 38. His estimated Attainment 8score is 35. His Progress 8 scoreis +0.3 (38 minus 35, dividedby 10). This means that he hasperformed better than thosewho achieved the same resultsas he did at KS2.

Progress 8score

Individualstudent

Attainment 8score

dividedby 10

minusestimatedAttainment 8

score

KS2 resultsFor pupils in Years 7 to 11, Progress 8 scoreswill be calculated by converting their testmarks in key stage 2 Sats (in English andmaths for the current Year 11, then readingand maths for subsequent Year 11 cohorts)into a “fine point score”. This fine level isgenerated as follows: the raw scores fromtests at KS2 are converted to a point scorein reading and maths (conversion tables areavailable in the RAISE library). These pointscores for reading and maths are combinedto create an average point score (APS).The average fine point score across thetwo subjects will be divided by six androunded to one decimal place, to give an“average fine level”.The complication comes with thescrapping of levels. The current calculationis based on levels, which were used forthe last time in 2015 and have now beenreplaced with a “scaled score” system. TheDfE has not yet set out how these pupils’KS2 results will be converted to “fine levelscores” for Progress 8 calculations, but it isexpected to do so once it has analysedthis year’s KS2 test results.

The Progress 8 scoreThe process of calculatingan individual’s Progress 8 scoreis as follows:● Students that achievedthe same results at key stage 2are grouped together andtheir Attainment 8 scoresare averaged. This givesan estimated Attainment 8score for this group.

● Each student then has theestimated Attainment 8score subtracted from theirindividual Attainment 8 score.

● The resultant number isdivided by 10 (the numberof subjects that went into the Attainment 8 score– eight subjects, but mathsand English count twice).This gives each individualstudent’s Progress 8 Score.

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