Where do independent schools get their 'value added' figures from...?

[Balootoyoutoo]

I've been to a couple of open days recently, as my DD is in Year 5 and we are starting to think about secondary school.

One school was very proud of their 'value added' score for GCSE results, which apparently put them in the top 10% for the country. However, they were vague about what this meant, and no amount of googling is throwing up how they could have calculated it. I'm finding tables that report value added scores, but only for state schools, which seem to use KS2 results as the baseline. I can find some info on value added between GCSE and A level for private schools, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the school were talking about.

Can anyone shed any light?

Most independent schools will have done MIDYIS testing in year 9. This is a testing system developed by Durham University and will set predictions for gcse results. If the actual results outperform the MIDYIS prediction that gives them their value added. They then do ALIS testing (same type of thing) in yr 12 for A levels.

Yep, Midyas or Yellis

It could be from ks2 Sats results.

My ds's senior school has three private feeder primaries which all sit ks2 Sats and the rest of the intake are from state primaries, so the vast majority have Sats results.

(They also do midyis and cats tests in Yr 7.)

Our school does baseline testing in y7, again in Y9. These are used to give predictions about what gcse/a level grades students 'should' get. If, in the end, they get better results the school has added value. If it's in line with predictions or below, then the school has effectively not added anything to the students natural ability.
We don't do anything with sats results, only y7 tests upwards.

Ahhh OK, thanks everyone. I figured it must be something like that. But my next question is, how do they know that they are in the top 10% of schools for this? Do all schools submit their data to some kind of central register?

Yep, Durham university as mentioned above do all the collection and analysis. They provide comparisons against other schools in the independent sector and against the national picture as well.

Thanks Petulia! I would love to see this analysis - it seems like hugely valuable info for evaluating schools. Do you know if it's publicly available?

No it's not, in fact CEM specifically ask for it not to be used in marketing as that's not the purpose of it - www.cem.org/publication-of-schools-performance-data

Oh that's annoying!

But having read the article that you linked to Petulia, I kind of get where they are coming from.

our DD's prep school does the PIPS tests beginning of Reception, beginning of Year 3 and in Year 6. They also do standardised tests via University of Durham (i think that is CEM) annually from Year 3 upwards. They have all the data internally and would show this to ISI inspectors but don't have to publish it on their website, although our school does.

That's interesting Sanam! I wish our school published their value-added I suspect it's a bit crap But reading the link that Petulia sent, it looks as if CEM are really quite keen that they don't publish (other than in very specific, occasional circs), and threaten to break ties with schools that are found to be doing so...!

MIDYIS is used by hundreds of secondary schools from both state and independent sectors. DS's school take the yr7 test. I think value added will be more widely quoted (as provided to schools by CEM) as we become more familiar with Progress 8 as a measure.

If you look at the ISI report for the schools you are interested it will say something about how pupils perform in relation to their ability as measured by standardised tests. It's not particularly detailed information but could be a piece that adds to the puzzle.

Thanks Nelly - yes I had spotted something to this effect in a couple of ISI reports, and I now understand where it comes from. Like you say though, verrrry vague...