Calculating Progress 8

Progress 8 scores will be calculated for each student in order for a school’s Progress 8 score to be determined.

A student’s Progress 8 score is defined as their Attainment 8 score minus their estimated Attainment 8 score, the outcome being divided by 10 (for the number of subjects counted including English and maths double).

The estimated Attainment 8 score is the average Attainment 8 score of all students nationally with the same prior attainment at the end of key stage 2.  For 2016, prior attainment is defined as the average of the students’ English and mathematics results, in fine graded levels.

For all mainstream students nationally, the average Progress 8 score will be zero.  Schools will be able to interpret their Progress 8 score alongside their associated confidence intervals.  If the lower bound of the school’s confidence interval is greater than zero, the school has achieved greater than average progress compared to students nationally, and vice versa if the upper bound is negative.

A P8 score of 1 suggests that the student’s progress was, on average, 1 grade more than that made by other students nationally.

Full details on how calculations for Progress 8 will be made can be found on the DfE website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/progress-8-school-performance-measure

Schools should make themselves aware of the Discounting, Pathway and first entry rules and detailed information can be found at: https://www.raiseonline.org/documentlibrary/ViewDocumentLibrary.aspx

Discounting ensures that where a student has taken two or more qualifications where there is a significant overlap in content credit in the performance tables is only given once.  Existing rules for first entry will continue to apply under Progress 8 along with the pathway rules for English, mathematics and science qualifications.