exam results | Schools Week

New online portal will offer schools free access to thousands of marked exams

Schools will be able to download all marked Edexcel GCSE and A-level exam scripts for free from next year in a move to make decisions on whether to challenge grades easier for teachers and exams officers, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. The education company Pearson, which took complete control over Edexcel in 2005 and currently administers […]

Government rapped over removal of IGCSEs from school league tables

The government has been rapped by the statistics watchdog for having a “gap in its coverage” of pupil attainment after removing IGCSE qualifications from school league tables, but has now pledged to make available a “wider range” of exam results. Simon Briscoe, a public policy statistician, wanted to obtain IGCSE data showing the performance and pathways of […]

The Progress 8 measure explained

If you are not changing your exam entry policy, and results are the same, it is likely your EBacc3 score will drop, explains David Blow June 2016 will be the first year that Progress 8 takes effect for school accountability, along with other headline measures. This is a major step forward as it means that the […]

Key stage 2 SATs results: Nearly half of pupils fail to achieve expected standard in ‘tougher’ tests

Just half of year 6 pupils have met the new expected standard in their key stage 2 SATs tests, provisional figures released by the Department for Eduation (DfE) reveal. The DfE has stressed this figure (53 per cent) is not comparable to last year – when 80 per cent of pupils met the standard – […]

Scaled scores for 2016 key stage 2 tests announced

Note (added 4 July 2017): Here are the 2017 scaled scores for key stage 2 SATs The Department for Education has today released the marks pupils needed for this year’s key stage 2 tests to achieve the government’s “expected” score. Scaled scores replace “levels” for the first time this year. To meet government expectations, pupils must […]

Ofqual’s new chief: We can do more to prevent exam errors

Ofqual needs to do more to stop “simple errors” in how schools deliver exams — although mistakes, security breaches and malpractice will continue, says new chief regulator Sally Collier. In her first speech since she took up office eight weeks ago, Collier admitted the workings of the watchdog and the wider testing system were “much, […]

Exam markers beware, there’s a camera near you

Examiners should be aware of the dangers of social media after two separate posts on Twitter sparked concerns that exams have been marked in public. Both tweets showed pictures of papers being marked on trains, with the posters suggesting they were examiners checking current pupils’ exams. Examiners are in breach of their contract if they […]

Break a habit and tap the potential of key stage 3

In a week when primary tests are dominating the headlines, Ed Cadwallader asks what happens to the “wasted years” of key stage 3 National curriculum levels have been scrapped following the recognition that the thinking behind them was flawed. The argument is that we should not consider progress to be a series of ordered steps […]

Why did some results dip last year? Ofqual reveals all…

Last year, on GCSE results day, panicked phone calls came through to the Schools Week office. There were dips – big dips – in the results of schools with outstanding records and well-respected leaders. What was going on? Many callers said the exams regulator, Ofqual, must have moved the boundaries of English and maths GCSEs, […]