Outstanding Key Stage 2 performance

Officials visited schools with outstanding rates of progression in Key Stage 2, to find out what lies at the heart of such spectacular improvements for children. Twenty schools were visited and they were chosen because over the last three years, more than 90% of their pupils who were at national expectations (Level 2) in Key Stage 1 progressed to national expectations (Level 4) at Key Stage 2. The schools were located across the country and had mixed intakes; some schools had high levels of pupils on Free School Meals (FSM) and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) populations. In the twenty schools, officials met with the Headteacher and a member of the school’s Senior Leadership Team usually responsible for assessment. They discussed six broad areas: school culture, leadership, assessment and monitoring, policies and resources, curriculum, and teaching and learning. The schools visited all shared common characteristics in each of these areas, and a strong picture emerged of what leads to success in securing progression.

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Keeping up – Pupils who fall behind in Key Stage 2

Keeping up – Pupils who fall behind in Key Stage 2 reports the findings of a small scale study focusing on pupils who are at risk of not converting a level 2 in English and mathematics at Key Stage 1 into a level 4 at the end of Key Stage 2. The proportion of pupils achieving the national expectation of level 4 at the end of Key Stage 2 has increased significantly. In English, it has increased from 63% in 1997 to 79% in 2006; and in mathematics, it has increased from 58% in 1998 to 76% in 2006. Read More...
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DfES Research: Urban density & pupil attainment

This paper looks at the association between urban density and pupil attainment of 16 year olds in schooling in England in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Using data combined from the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) and the National Pupil Database, the authors examine pupils’ progress when switching between schools in different locations as they move from primary to secondary education, by using the change in urban density as a variable in a regression analysis.
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