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Research institute publishes new benchmarking tool highlighting the performance of Harris academies
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has published a new web tool that enables users to benchmark schools groups on a series of measures.
Today’s publication encompasses metrics on attainment and inclusion but the research will be expanded in future to include data around finance and workforce. The aim of the new tool is to produce a well-rounded definition of what a ‘good’ schools group looks like.
The data is taken between the school years starting in September 2016 and September 2018, and includes schools that had been part of their group for at least two years.
With the tool allowing for comparison between school groups across the system, the results are strikingly positive for the Harris Federation.
The research:
- Echoes previous studies that have shown the benefits of a Harris education for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are in the Top 10% of all schools groups for the progress made by our disadvantaged pupils. Our average Progress 8 [1]for disadvantaged pupils is +0.74 greater than the national average for disadvantaged students and is higher than any large academy trust. [2]
- Shows that our pupils don’t just excel compared to other similarly disadvantaged pupils, they also excel compared to all pupils nationally:
- At primary, our Year 6 pupils exceed the standards expected for their age group, despite the fact that nearly 40% are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
- At secondary, our average Attainment 8 score is 50.10, putting us in the top fifth of all schools groups: this is a significant achievement given that the measure does not account for the differences of intakes between schools, and our intake has lower than average prior educational outcomes and higher than average socioeconomic disadvantage. [3]
- Reflects the calm and well-disciplined environment in our schools, with our level of suspensions in the lowest fifth of all schools nationally.
- Identifies the inclusivity of each schools’ groups admissions process, showing that our secondaries attract proportionately more applications from disadvantaged families locally, and then admit an even greater proportion than have applied.
Read about the research on the EPI website: www.epi.org.uk
[1]Progress 8 is calculated by comparing pupils’ Attainment 8 score with the scores of pupils nationally who achieved similar results at the end of primary school.
[2] ‘Large’ is defined by EPI as having 10 or more schools within the primary/secondary phase each metric relates to.
[3] Attainment 8 is one of the government’s headline measures of attainment. It is calculated by adding together a pupil’s GCSE scores across 8 subjects, with double weighting for English and maths.