Identification of Underachievement

What is underachievement? Pupils who are failing to reach their maximum potential This may be due to a range of factors such as: –Attendance –Pastoral Issues –Medical –SEN –Lack of Motivation These could be interrelated

What data was used to identify underachievement? Standardised external tests such as CATs and Transfer Tests Standardised internal tests Diagnostic testing for SEN The professional judgement of staff Different Criteria were established for each Key Stage

How do we collect the data? Year 8 and 10 pupils sit CATs test in October and the results are supplied to the school on a floppy disc. This data can be directly imported into SIMS Assessment Manager Standardised assessment data is collected for all pupils in November, February and May. This data is directly entered into a SIMS marksheet. This data was combined with other data in an Excel spreadsheet but the introduction of Assessment Manager 7 should reduce the workload substantially. Attendance Percentage and SEN status are fields which can now be inserted automatically into any marksheet. Aspects could be set up for Pastoral and Medical issues.

Collecting the data – using version 6 of Assessment Manager

Assessment Manager 7 will reduce the workload

Non Data Based Information Pastoral Information Medical Issues Professional Opinion of teachers –The Number of Departments/subjects who identify a pupil as underachieving

Further Information from the Heads of Department

How was the data collated? Up until now data from Assessment Manager was copied to Excel and combined with the other data copied from various modules as well as a substantial level of manual input. Using functions such as =COUNTIF in Excel, pupils who are underachieving could be identified according to the specific criteria for each year group

Example of Criteria for determining underachievement in Year 10 (KS3) Pupils who achieve a Verbal or Quantitative Stanine of 5 or less in the Year 10 CAT Tests conducted in October 2006 and/or A Verbal or Quantitative Stanine significantly lower than their non verbal score Pupils who achieved three or more Grades lower than C in Assessment 1 Pupils who are highlighted by departments as underachieving in three or more subjects across the ability range

All the data is now in place!

What happens next? The SMT analyse and discuss the data. Pupils underachieving are identified using the criteria for the particular Key Stage Information is then circulated to Heads of Year and Head of Departments. Curriculum and Pastoral support is put in place where appropriate The data is also used as part of a mail merge report to parents at Parent Teacher Meeting. Where pupils are identified as underachieving their parents are informed of our concerns and proposed action.

Intervention Depending on the level of underachievement and the underlying cause, if known or identified, the pupils can have: Their progress Monitored closely until the next set of assessments Interviews by their Head of Year or a member of the SMT depending on the severity of the underachievement and the particular circumstances Following the interview pupils could be placed on a Pupil Development Plan (PDP) and progress monitored by Form Teacher/Head of Year. If there appears to be underlying learning needs the pupil will be diagnostically tested and if necessary placed on the SEN Register

Has this scheme been successful? We collected the following data on each year group: –% of Grade As in the Transfer Test –% of Pupils achieving at least 3 Level 7s at KS3 –% of pupils achieving 7 GCSEs at Grade A*-C –% of pupils achieving 3 A Levels at Grade A-C This data was plotted against year of entry

% of Pupils with Transfer Grade A Year of Entry

A set of benchmarking data can be collected for each year group

Comparison of Performance in Transfer, KS3, GCSE and A Level

Trends in Performance can be identified

Has this scheme had any impact?

An ongoing process This system has now been in place for 6 years. It is an ongoing continuous cycle which also includes analysis of winter and summer reports. During this period no pupil has been continuously identified every year and the vast majority after identification improve their performance. With the improvements in Assessment Manager 7 and our plan to introduce Codes for Pastoral and Medical Issues, the system to collect information will be fully automated and live. We hope that there will less time spent on collating the data and allow earlier intervention.