School Data Updates

“And we would go on as though nothing was wrong” Joy Division, Transmission I recently got into a discussion on Twitter about the differences between tracking and assessment, and whether there is any such thing as an assessment system. I’d suggested that many systems auto-assess (I referred to them as Assessbots), that the teacher ticks […]

Many thanks to Mary Myatt (@MaryMyatt) for nominating me for the #TwitteratiChallenge. I feel most honoured. I hope i’m completing this within the required time frame; it’s taken me a while to sort out a list in my head. The #TwitteratiChallenge started by by Ross McGill of the @TeacherToolkit fame with the following aim: “In the spirit of social-media-educator friendships, […]

Anyone who’s read my recent tweets or blogs, or been to one of my ranting training sessions, will know that the concept of linear progress – that pupils should all progress at the same rate regardless of start point – has become a bit of an obsession. As I’ve blogged about previously, it concerns me […]

I admit that it took a while for the penny to drop. Once I accepted, and then embraced the death of levels, I’ve been continually re-evaluating my thoughts  on progress measures, and have had this nagging feeling for a while now: that our entire approach is not just flawed but is a fabrication, constructed to […]

I remember a comedy sketch from many years ago in which two gibbering old men thought up collective nouns and then entered them into a thick, dusty ledger. Finally one says something along the lines of “I think that will do for today”, whereupon the ledger is closed to reveal the title on the cover: The […]

You may be surprised to hear that I don’t know a great deal about whisky making. OK, maybe not, but I’d wager that if you were in the business of ageing a 12 year old single malt, you probably wouldn’t expect to notice much difference if you tasted it every 6 weeks. You might think […]

I have a confession: I am not a statistician. There, I said it. (Feels good to get that out in the open.) I actually have a Ph.D. In Geology. I’m not bragging; it’s more like an admission. As anyone who knows anything about Scientists will testify, us Geologists don’t live on the brightest side of […]

The most vulnerable schools – those in RI or special measures, or those identified as weak by an LA or sponsor – have the greatest data burden placed upon them. That’s a given. Despite the drive for schools to develop new ways of assessing and tracking pupil progress, these ‘schools causing concern’ have less room […]

The following notes relate to some work I’m doing to support a junior school with a bit of a baseline issue. A case of significantly high prior attainment, good KS2 results, and abysmal progress. So, I’ve been trying to build a case for the defense against the duality of the RAISE report – a sort of lush […]

Those familiar with ‘comment is free’ on The Guardian website will know that nothing divides opinion and generates quite as much vitriol as an article about the latest smartphone. Not even the recent debate on Scottish Independence could compete with the iPhone 6 in terms acrimony. It’s a tribal thing, and I’ve noticed something similar […]