Value-added looks not only at student outcomes (e.g. GCSE results) but also takes into account the starting point of each student, as well as the expected level of achievement at the time they joined the school. Some students would make a small amount of progress, most would make a near average progression and a few would make excellent progress. Over a fixed period of time, we can determine the amount of improvement a school has added to the student through factors such as the quality of teaching. Value-added is essentially the effect a school has on a student.
The GL Assessment Value-Added Service uses several data inputs including overall CAT4 score (mean SAS), CAT4 scores in each of the four batteries (verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial), gender and month of birth. These inputs are used together to create an indicator for each student, which can be compared to actual exam performance to create a value-added score for each student, subject and overall school performance. The increased accuracy means a more powerful analysis in which schools can really see where they are making the most impact, for which types of students and in which subjects.
A school can look at attainment and exam results, to see how well they are doing, but value-added takes account of expected and actual attainment data where each pupil started from and the progress they made relative to other, similar students. The value-added allows you to monitor trends over time by looking at year on year comparisons. This information across the whole school helps school leaders in driving improvement.
The Fischer Family Trust (FFT) – a not-for-profit organisation specialising in the analysis of school performance data and providing value-added analysis to over 15,000 schools in the UK and internationally. GL Assessment and FFT are working together to provide the Value-Added service.
If you have any questions about the Value-Added Service please email valueadded@gl-education.com, or complete the form below