AVERAGE POINT SCORES (APS)

If pupils are expected to make two levels’ progress over KS2 (‘adequate progress’), and each level is worth 6 points, then expected progress for each year of the key stage is 3 points. It can then be extrapolated that expected progress over a term equates to 1 point.

Over a year, three points progress cannot be matched exactly to sublevels’ progress, (because one sub-level progress is two points, and two sub-levels four points) and so APS can only be used to create an average of progress for a group of pupils. It is not possible to use points to make a judgement about an individual pupil’s progress, as this must always be seen in relation to each pupil’s starting point at the beginning of the key stage, and how much progress has already been made earlier in the key stage (not all pupils progress at the same rate).

As such it is therefore most useful for purposes such as these:

  1. When judging progress, perhaps to triangulate with the teaching seen during lesson observations, to contribute to a more rounded summary of the quality of teaching judgement in a classroom across a term or a year.
  2. When looking at relative attainment between year groups, or between vulnerable groups of pupils, in order to decide where to target resources to accelerate progress.

National Curriculum Level / Average Point Score
W / 3
1c / 7
1b / 9
1a / 11
2c / 13
2b / 15
2a / 17
3c / 19
3b / 21
3a / 23
4c / 25
4b / 27
4a / 29
5c / 31
5b / 33
5a / 35
6c / 37
6b / 39
6a / 41

Judgements made using APS

Progress from KS1 to KS2 could be judged in the following way:

Expected 12 APS (2 levels)

Good 14 APS (2.33 levels)

Outstanding 16 APS (2.66 levels)

This does not seem unrealistic in light of the accelerated progress traditionally made by EAL pupils, for example, across KS2. We know that last year, in Wandsworth, 37.7% of pupils made 3+ level gains in English by the end of Key Stage 2, while 41.2% did the same in mathematics.

However, these judgements must be made in light of an understanding of the nature of the cohort being judged. If there are no EAL pupils represented, then outstanding progress could be somewhat lower than 16 APS: if there are a lot of EAL, pupils, might we not expect outstanding progress to be higher than 16 APS?

Of most importance in the judgement, however, is an understanding of KS1 progress and attainment: if pupils make consistently good or outstanding progress across a whole school, then some Ofsted teams have been known to judge APS progress of above 14.5 as outstanding.

Issues with the use of APS

  1. Average point scores are used to inform value added judgements that appear in RAISEonline. Where a child has attained a level 3 at the end of KS1, the points associated with this level are those for a level 3B, while, when we teacher assess for year 2 children, we will give them a level 3 even if they are only a low level 3 (ie a 3C)
  2. Using APS to inform judgements about progress can hide ‘outliers’, ie the pupils who do very well (making lots of progress) hide the poor progress made by others, when the progress is averaged out.
  3. There is a great deal of contention, and certainly no officially issued advice, about how points equated to the old EYFSP scale points. The LA recommends that a pupil could not be allocated a point score when they arrived in Year 1 directly on the basis of their old EYFSP score: thisinformed the point score but it did not mean an automatic transition eg scale point 6 automatically equals a 1C. We recommend a fresh look at each child in the core subjects, on the basis of their EYFSP evidence, to establish their baseline National Curriculum level on entry to Year 1. What should be examined for target setting purposes at Key Stage 1, and to establish whether a pupils is making adequate progress, is that a more able pupil (ie those attaining scale points 8 and 9) should be attaining at the higher levels at the end of KS1 (ie levels 2A or 3). This can be used to inform progress on the way through Key Stage 1 (eg is this Year 1 pupil who attained scale point 9 in calculation in the old EYFSP on track to attain a level 3 at the end of Year 2?). The LA is investigating how progress might begin to be judged across KS1 on the basis of the new EYFSP.

APS and pupil progress meetings

The progress data used in pupil progress meetings should ideally draw on a combination of:

  1. APS
  2. An analysis of the individual pupils making slow progress, particular if this is compounded by slow progress in previous year groups.
  3. The progress pupils can be seen to be making in their books.

When looked at in relation to attainment, this should enable teachers and senior leadership teams to effectively identify pupil of concern, and to plan for them to make accelerated progress.

NB expected progress for pupils with certain identified SEN will not be two levels over KS2: guidance on how we might judge their progress can be found in the ‘Progression Guidance’ issued by the DCSF, but still directly referred to by the current DfE.