1. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence: Fife’s perspective Stuart Booker Statistician Email: stuart.booker@fife.gsx.gov.uk

2. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Introduction: “understanding” My background –Research/analysis – mathematical modelling –Teaching – HE sector “Understanding” rather than just information Knowing why things happen as well as knowing what is happening

3. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Overview 1.Why “understanding” is key to the success of Curriculum for Excellence 2.How appropriate information can help us to improve “understanding” … … including information from CEM systems

4. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) 1. Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) National Outcome 4 introduces the four capacities … “Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens”

5. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Why CfE matters Curriculum for Excellence Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens National Outcome 3 We are better educated, more skilled and more successful … National Outcome 2 We realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities … National Outcome 6 We live longer, healthier lives. National Outcome 7 We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society

6. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Why CfE matters Education “There is ample empirical evidence that education is one of the major drivers of intergenerational social mobility, particularly income mobility” Social equity “Countries where equality of opportunity is estimated to be relatively low include … the United Kingdom …” The economy “… inequalities in the distribution of learning opportunities might signal economic inefficiencies …” Source: Equity in student achievement across OECD countries: an investigation of the role of policies, Causa and Chapuis (OECD, 2009)

7. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Why CfE matters Source: National Outcomes, Young People (Scottish Government web- site, 2010) Education “The ambition is universal: the goal is to raise achievement across the population and for the gap between those who are the most and least successful to be reduced” Social equity “Countries where equality of opportunity is estimated to be relatively low include … the United Kingdom …” The economy “… inequalities in the distribution of learning opportunities might signal economic inefficiencies …”

8. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Why understanding matters Education “It is well established that children who experience poverty are more likely than their more advantaged peers to experience lower levels of … attainment” Source: Poverty, family resources and children’s early educational attainment …, Kiernan and Mensah (BERJ, 2010) Social equity “Countries where equality of opportunity is estimated to be relatively low include … the United Kingdom …”

9. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Why understanding matters In order to achieve the ambitions of Curriculum for Excellence, we need to: –Make sense of a complex issue with several, inter-dependent factors (i.e. a “wicked problem”) –Recognise good/best/successful practice –Make a fair assessment of areas of relative strength and weakness –Recognise systemic, as well as individual pupil, needs

10. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) 2. How can we achieve understanding? National deciles –Measure against an absolute standard Trends –Measure against own past performance PCA comparators –Measure against similar schools Longitudinal data (CEM) –Measure against potential, as measured by pupil’s prior achievement

11. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) National deciles NCDs give a sense of absolute performance They give a sense of scale … but, they give no context

12. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Trends

13. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Trends Trends allow a comparison against past achievement Give a sense of significant change over time … but, they don’t account for social context

14. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) PCA comparators

15. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) PCA comparators PCA makes allowance for social context, by providing 20 “similar”, comparator schools Aims to give a “like-for-like” benchmark for performance … but, degree of “similarity” can vary significantly between schools

16. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) PCA comparators … and, PCA comparators don’t explain year-on-year fluctuations in performance

17. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Longitudinal data Example. Comparison of 5+ at level 5 with proportion of same S4 cohort who attained a PIPS P7 score in the top 34% nationally Data for two Fife schools

18. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Longitudinal data Can help explain year-on-year fluctuations Gives insight into progression Can give a sense of “value added” Data for two Fife schools

19. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Longitudinal data Can give a sense of relative strength of subjects and courses … … but, offers limited prior information (e.g. reading, maths, science)

20. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Longitudinal data Gives a useful measure of group performance … but, is not a predictor of individual performance

21. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Longitudinal data Incorporates the impact of deprivation

22. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Trends Towards a better understanding … Self Potential Absolute Similar National results Longitudinal data PCA comparators Behaviour and discipline Surveys etc

23. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Conclusion Understanding is key for the successful delivery of Curriculum for Excellence Longitudinal data is an invaluable source of information about progression … … through both primary and secondary education

24. Education Service Assessment and the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Conclusion With longitudinal data, information sources exist that can provide a balanced understanding of performance Fife Council is working towards this goal