Family Factors
5. Exploring Relative Academic Progress between Year 6 and Year
5.2. The Impact of Pre-, Primary and Secondary School Experience
Since multiple dimensions of the pre-, primary and secondary experiences proved to be significant predictors of students’ academic attainment in Year 9, we sought to establish whether any of the same characteristics would also be significant predictors of students’ academic progress between Year 6 and Year 9. Results showed that the pre-school and primary school experiences were no longer associated with the amount of academic progress students made during secondary school, although they still have been shown to still shape attainment in Year 9. On the other hand, the academic effectiveness of the secondary school was significant only for English and the two Ofsted measures of secondary school quality were significant predictors of students’ progress in English, maths and science in KS3.
5.2.1. The Impact of Secondary School Academic Effectiveness
The secondary school academic effectiveness measured by the school level CVA was a significant predictor of progress in English (see Table 5.8). Students from highly (for the original data) or medium (for the imputed data) effective secondary schools made significantly more progress in English than students from low effective secondary schools30.
Table 5.8: Contextualised Value Added Models for English Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Secondary School Academic Effectiveness (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 English TA Original Data
Year 9 English TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2341 2996
Number of schools 518 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Secondary School Academic Effectiveness
(compared to low effectiveness)
Medium effectiveness 0.09 0.05 0.14 0.11 0.06 0.17 * High effectiveness 0.17 0.07 0.27 * 0.12 0.08 0.18
Missing -0.35 0.38 -0.56 -0.05 0.07 -0.08
% Reduction school variance 89% 84%
% Reduction student variance 56% 48%
% Reduction total variance 64% 57% * p <0.05
5.2.2. The Impact of Secondary School Quality
In addition to the CVA indicators, Ofsted inspection data provided further measures of school quality. Secondary schools’ quality measured by Ofsted inspection judgements was found to be predictor of academic progress in secondary school. The same measurements of secondary school quality which were statistically significant predictors of academic attainment proved to be important for academic progress as well in KS3. The ‘quality of pupils' learning and their progress and the ‘attendance of learners’ were positive predictors of academic progress in English, maths and science.
30
Because CVA scores were not available for all secondary schools, the measure was divided into groups – high, medium, low and missing to avoid reducing the sample size. It was deemed inappropriate to impute missing school CVA measures in this data set.
118
The Impact of the Quality of Pupils’ Learning on Academic Progress in Secondary School
EPPSE students attending secondary schools classified as outstanding in terms of inspection judgements of the ‘quality of pupils’ learning’ made significantly greater progress in English (ESOrig=0.36; ESImputed=0.34), maths (ESOrig=0.32; ESImputed=0.40) and science TA levels
(ESOrig=0.29; ESImputed=0.35) than students from secondary schools characterised as inadequate in
their learning quality.
Moreover, their progress in maths was significantly greater for those attending secondary schools characterised as good or satisfactory on learning quality than the progress of the students from inadequate secondary schools (see Table 5.10). The size of effects was moderately strong and showed a clear trend.
Table 5.9: Contextualised Value Added Models for English Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 English TA Original Data
Year 9 English TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2341 2996
Number of schools 518 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Quality of Pupils’ Learning (compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.23 0.09 0.36 * 0.23 0.09 0.34 * Good 0.07 0.07 0.11 0.08 0.08 0.12 Satisfactory 0.07 0.07 0.11 0.06 0.07 0.09 Missing 0.08 0.10 0.13 -0.08 0.08 -0.12
% Reduction school variance 89% 84%
% Reduction student variance 56% 48%
% Reduction total variance 64% 57% * p <0.05
Table 5.10: Contextualised Value Added Models for Maths Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 Maths TA Original Data
Year 9 Maths TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2384 2996
Number of schools 522 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Quality of Pupils’ Learning (compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.22 0.10 0.32 * 0.30 0.10 0.40 * Good 0.24 0.08 0.35 * 0.28 0.08 0.37 * Satisfactory 0.18 0.07 0.26 * 0.20 0.08 0.27 *
Missing 0.36 0.11 0.53 * 0.15 0.09 0.20
% Reduction school variance 90% 88%
% Reduction student variance 70% 64%
% Reduction total variance 74% 69% * p <0.05
119
Table 5.11: Contextualised Value Added Models for Science Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 Science TA Original Data
Year 9 Science TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2350 2996
Number of schools 520 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Quality of Pupils’ Learning (compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.20 0.09 0.29 * 0.27 0.10 0.35 * Good 0.14 0.07 0.19 0.18 0.08 0.23 * Satisfactory 0.02 0.07 0.03 0.05 0.07 0.07
Missing 0.13 0.10 0.18 -0.08 0.09 -0.11
% Reduction school variance 91% 86%
% Reduction student variance 50% 43%
% Reduction total variance 60% 53% * p <0.05
The Impact of the Learners’ Attendance on Academic Progress in Secondary School
Academic progress in secondary school was also significantly related to the Ofsted judgement of learners’ attendance. Students attending secondary schools rated as outstanding on the learners’ attendance had greater gains in English (ESOrig=0.48; ESImputed=0.46) and maths TA levels
(ESOrig=0.35; ESImputed=0.41) than students from secondary schools characterised as inadequate in
their overall attendance (see Table 5.12 and Table 5.13).
Additionally, students from secondary schools characterised as good or satisfactory on attendance made significantly greater progress in English and maths TA levels across KS3. The progress in science was significantly different only for students from secondary schools judged as good on attendance when compared to those attending inadequate secondary schools.
Table 5.12: Contextualised Value Added Models for English Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 English TA Original Data
Year 9 English TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2341 2996
Number of schools 518 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Attendance of Learners
(compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.30 0.09 0.48 * 0.31 0.10 0.46 * Good 0.24 0.08 0.39 * 0.25 0.09 0.37 * Satisfactory 0.25 0.08 0.40 * 0.25 0.09 0.37 *
Missing 0.27 0.10 0.43 * 0.09 0.09 0.13
% Reduction school variance 89% 85%
% Reduction student variance 56% 48%
% Reduction total variance 64% 57% * p <0.05
120
Table 5.13: Contextualised Value Added Models for Maths Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 Maths TA Original Data
Year 9 Maths TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2384 2996
Number of schools 522 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Attendance of Learners
(compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.24 0.10 0.35 * 0.31 0.12 0.41 * Good 0.29 0.09 0.43 * 0.34 0.10 0.45 * Satisfactory 0.19 0.08 0.28 * 0.23 0.10 0.31 *
Missing 0.42 0.11 0.60 * 0.20 0.12 0.27
% Reduction school variance 90% 88%
% Reduction student variance 70% 64%
% Reduction total variance 74% 69% * p <0.05
Table 5.14: Contextualised Value Added Models for Science Teacher Assessment Levels in Year 9: Ofsted Judgements (Original Data vs. Imputed Data)
Year 9 Science TA Original Data
Year 9 Science TA Imputed Data STATA ICE
Number of students 2350 2996
Number of schools 520 799
Fixed Effects Coef SE ES Sig Coef SE ES Sig
Ofsted Judgement- The Attendance of Learners
(compared to inadequate)
Outstanding 0.15 0.10 0.21 0.20 0.11 0.27 Good 0.17 0.09 0.24 * 0.22 0.10 0.29 * Satisfactory 0.08 0.08 0.12 0.13 0.09 0.17
Missing 0.17 0.11 0.24 -0.03 0.10 -0.04
% Reduction school variance 91% 86%
% Reduction student variance 50% 43%
% Reduction total variance 60% 53% * p <0.05
In summary, the results in this section highlight the relevance of the overall academic quality of the individual secondary school a student attends in promoting better academic progress during KS3 as well as predicting better levels of attainment (as demonstrated in Section 3.3.2).
In England, national DfE and Ofsted data sets provide overall indicators of school quality and these results indicate that students who attended a better secondary school (as measured by CVA scores and Ofsted judgements) benefited in terms of both their level of attainment in Year 9 and in making more progress across KS3.
121