Rule #1: Stop obsessing about
quantifying progress
“Sometimes progress is simply about consolidation”
Helping schools make sense of their data
Can data be a threat?
Helping schools make sense of their data
But we have to measure progress, right?
Helping schools make sense of their data
• “tracking software, which has been used
widely as a tool for measuring progress
with levels, cannot, and should not, be
adapted to assess understanding of a
curriculum that recognises depth and
breadth of understanding as of equal
value to linear progression”
Helping schools make sense of their data
Stop recreating levels!
Band
% Objectives
Step
67-100%
3
Y2 Emerging
0-33%
4
Y2 Developing
34-66%
5
Y2 Secure
67-100%
6
Y3 Emerging
0-33%
7
Y3 Developing
34-66%
8
Y3 Secure
67-100%
9
0-33%
10
Y1 Secure
Y4 Emerging
Helping schools make sense of their data
Progress is………
• Catching up
• Filling gaps
• Deepening understanding
• Overcoming barriers
Can all this really be expressed by a simple point scale?
And how do we define expected/more than expected
progress?
Helping schools make sense of their data
Do more with less
Helping schools make sense of their data
Triage your system
One question: does this have an
impact on pupils’ learning?
Helping schools make sense of their data
Helping schools make sense of their data
So…….
• Keep track of the gaps in pupils learning
• Do not recreate levels
• Avoid points based progress measures that encourage
pace at the expense of depth
• Tests are a more robust way of measuring progress
• Remember: progress is not linear so do not assume it is
for sake of simplicity
• Don’t shoot yourself in the foot!
• Do more with less
Helping schools make sense of their data