16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard

Overview and guidance

This document contains an overview of the data contained in the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard and information to assist in interpreting the charts. For more detailed technical guidance, particularly about the strengths and weaknesses calculations, see the ’16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard – technical guidance document’ also held in the RAISEonline library.

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16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard – general guidance

March 2016

Contents

General information 3

Sixth forms in schools 4

Further education and skills providers 4

Data content and presentation 4

Groups 5

Missing data 5

Nationals 5

Entries 6

Strengths and weaknesses 7

Interim minimum standards 8

Value added 8

Qualifications and groups 10

Destinations 10

Retention 11

Attainment 12

Context in 2015 12

Context for learners at the end of their final year 12

Prior attainment 12

Percentage of FSM/CLA learners 13

Context for Years 12 to 14 from the school census 13

Ethnicity 13

Number on roll by gender 13

Percentage from the same provider 13

Percentage with SEN and with first language not English 13

Children looked after (CLA) 14

General information

This guide provides an overview of the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard and information to assist in interpreting the charts. Each page of the dashboard also contains brief notes about the charts.

The 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard has been created to support the common inspection arrangements for schools and further education and skills providers from September 2015. Its format is consistent with the inspection dashboard, which was released in September 2015 for early years to Key Stage 4 data.

The 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard is a tool showing historic outcomes data for inspectors to use when preparing for inspections. During inspection, inspectors will give most weight to the outcomes of current learners, taking account also of historic data. When evaluating the effectiveness of the 16 to 19 study programmes, inspectors will also weigh up the extent of the level 3 provision reported in the dashboard in relation to the volume of levels 1 and 2 provision.

The 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard is designed to show at a glance how well previous cohorts demonstrated characteristics of good or better performance in level 3 qualifications and in GCSE English and mathematics. This release of the dashboard is produced for all providers of level 3 qualifications using data supplied by the Department for Education (DfE), although the interim retention measure and some of the context data are currently available for only school sixth forms.

The dashboard contains a brief overview of published data for the last three years, where available. Progress and attainment data for each of these years are for learners at the end of their 16 to 19 study programme. The dashboard is additional to the fuller data already available to providers. It shows progress first, including from different starting points, alongside which retention should be considered.

The dashboard uses clear visual displays that are quick to interpret. Anonymous dashboards for school sixth forms and for further education and skills providers are available in the RAISEonline library[1], where anonymous dashboards for primary and secondary schools are also available.

The current 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard shows 2015 unamended data for progress and attainment. The figures may differ from those contained in the 2015 Performance Tables, which show validated data. In addition, the dashboard contains the validated interim minimum standards as published in the Performance Tables. This release of the dashboard does not include the GCSE English and mathematics information or interim retention measure data for 2015 because these data are not yet available. A later release of the dashboard will show validated 2015 data and other data not yet available. Subject level data for vocational courses will also be shown in a future release.

Providers can access their dashboard by logging into RAISEonline, clicking on the ‘PDF documents’ link and clicking on the ‘inspection dashboard’ tab.

Unvalidated dashboards have been produced for all providers that have 2015 data for level 3 qualifications. For queries about locating a dashboard, please contact .

Sixth forms in schools

For school sixth forms, the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard forms part of the school’s inspection dashboard. The inspection dashboard contains data for each key stage that the school has data. For schools that had pupils in Key Stage 4 and learners in the sixth form, there are two front pages displayed. The first page displays the strengths and weaknesses for Key Stage 4. The second page displays the strengths and weaknesses for the sixth form.

For schools with both Key Stage 4 and sixth form data, there are two context pages shown at the end of the dashboard. One contains data for Years 7 to 11 and the other contains data for the sixth form.

Further education and skills providers

For most further education and skills providers, the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard is provided as a stand-alone document.

For providers that also had learners in Key Stage 4, the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard is provided in the same document as the Key Stage 4 inspection dashboard.

For providers with both Key Stage 4 and 16 to 19 study programmes data, there are two front pages displayed. The first page displays the strengths and weaknesses for Key Stage 4. The second page displays the strengths and weaknesses for the 16 to 19 study programmes.

For providers with both Key Stage 4 and 16 to 19 study programmes data, there are two context pages shown at the end of the dashboard. One contains data for learners aged 14 to 16 and the other contains data for learners on the 16 to 19 study programmes.

Data content and presentation

The unvalidated dashboard contains data for level 3 learners’ progress, attainment, destinations, retention (for school sixth forms only) and context. The progress charts use level 3 value-added (VA) data. A later release will also contain data on improvement in GCSE English and mathematics.

Groups

The dashboard shows data for all learners and for the key groups: learners who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) or children looked after (CLA) by the local authority when in Year 11, females and males. Data for the complementary group, non-FSM or non-FSM/CLA, are also shown.

The FSM/CLA group is learners for whom the pupil premium provided support when they were in Year 11, because they had been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years or were in care. Attainment data for this group and VA data for the FSM part of this group are provided from 2014. Learners for whom FSM or FSM/CLA status in Year 11 is not known are included in the charts for all learners but not in the charts for the groups: FSM, FSM/CLA, non-FSM and non-FSM/CLA, so totals for cohorts or entries may differ.

Data for different prior attainment groups are also provided based on prior attainment at GCSE or equivalent. Charts show separately the progress of the highest prior attainers, those with grade A and above, and of groups with prior attainment grade B, grade C, and grade D or below.

Missing data

Some charts on the context page are currently based only on data from the school census and so appear blank for further education and skills providers.

There are a few possible reasons that data for some years are not shown for a particular measure:

1)  The measure did not exist or was not available to Ofsted for that year. If this is the case, the data are shown as a dash.

2)  The provider had no learners for a particular measure in that year, or fewer than six for destinations data, so data were suppressed. If this is the case, the entries or cohort will be shown as a dash and a dash will also be shown for the measure. Where there are no data for any of the three years, the entire chart is not shown.

3)  If the provider recently changed as a legal entity, the data may be shown only for years since that change.

Nationals

National values are provided in the red bar above each attainment, destinations and retention chart. Each value is also shown by a red line on the chart itself.

The 2015 national figures shown in the dashboard are based on unvalidated data. They differ from 2015 national figures published within the Department for Education’s Performance Tables, which are based on validated data.

The provider types included in the national figure for each measure are as follows:

Measure / Provider types
Value added / All 16-18 providers, including independent schools from 2013/14
Attainment / All state-funded schools and colleges
Destinations / All state-funded schools and colleges
Interim retention measure for school sixth forms / All state-funded school sixth forms

For attainment, destinations and retention charts, the national comparator used for each learner group is as follows:

Learner group / National comparator group (red bar)
All learners / All learners national
FSM / Non-FSM national
Non-FSM / Non-FSM national
FSM/CLA / Non-FSM/CLA national
Non-FSM/CLA / Non-FSM/CLA national
Female / Female national
Male / Male national
Prior attainment group / Same prior attainment group national

Entries

Figures for entries may differ substantially between VA and attainment charts. In VA charts, the figures in the rows for entries show the number of entries. In attainment charts, the figures shown are for weighted entries, rounded to the nearest whole number. For example, an entry for A level is counted as 1, for AS level is counted as 0.5 and for a double-award A level is counted as 2. Where AS levels are included, the entries figures for academic attainment may be below those for academic VA. Where vocational qualifications with double weight are included, the entries figures for vocational attainment may be substantially higher than for vocational VA.

Strengths and weaknesses

The strengths and weaknesses are shown on the front page of the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard. They are calculated based on only the 2015 data shown in the dashboard.

The strengths give an indication of some features of good or better performance in 2015 across qualification types, subjects, starting points and groups. The weaknesses highlight particularly low progress in comparison with all 16 to 19 providers in qualification types, by groups and in GCE A-level subjects.

The strengths and weaknesses are based on statements related to historic data in the grade descriptors and handbook. It is possible that there will be no strengths or no weaknesses flagged for a provider. The table below gives the number of possible strength and weakness sentences for a provider.

Table 1: Number of possible strengths and weaknesses for a provider

Strengths / Weaknesses
VA for qualification types / 1 / 1
Group VA for qualification types / 1 / 4
Academic VA by prior attainment group / 1 / 1
FSM academic VA by prior attainment group / 1 / 1
GCE A-level subject VA / 1 / 1
Interim minimum standards / 0 / 2

The list of possible strengths and weaknesses for the 16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard can be found in the RAISEonline library[2]. For VA for qualification types, a strength is shown where VA is significantly above average; the qualification types or groups that match the provider’s data are listed. For GCE A-level subject VA, the strength reflected in sentences is of consistency between subjects. There is a hierarchy of possible strength sentences. All commend that no subject has VA significantly below average. The sentences differ in the proportion that is significantly above average: fewer than a tenth, at least a tenth or at least a quarter. The strength shown for a provider is the highest one in the list that matches the provider’s data.

Weakness sentences are customised to specify only the qualification types, groups and number of subjects that match the provider’s data. For VA for qualification types, a weakness is shown where VA was significantly below average and in the lowest 10%. Where a FSM or gender group is identified as in the lowest 10%, it has been compared with the lowest 10% of all providers based on the figures for all learners, and not the figures for the group nationally. Separate weakness sentences are shown for groups for academic, vocational, GCE A-level and GCE AS-level qualifications. For GCE A-level subject VA, a weakness is shown where two or more subjects had VA significantly below average and in the lowest 5% of all providers of that subject. Where either academic or vocational interim minimum standards were not met, this is listed as a weakness. If both are not met, two separate weaknesses are listed.

Further detail about how strengths and weaknesses have been calculated will be published in the ’16 to 19 study programmes inspection dashboard – technical guidance’ document in the RAISEonline library.

Interim minimum standards

The interim minimum standards shown in this release of the dashboard include the amended 2015 data as published in the download section[3] of Performance Tables. Further details are provided in the attainment section of this guidance.

Value added

VA charts use level 3 value-added data. VA scores are given in the tables and plotted with a point in the charts. The confidence interval around a score is shown by the length of the line above the point, and by the length of the line below the point. It indicates the range of uncertainty around the score.

Confidence intervals should be taken into account when making comparisons with national averages. The national figure for VA is zero. Where the whole of the confidence interval is above the zero line, the VA is significantly above average (sig+). The VA can then be described as above average. If the confidence interval is wholly below the zero line, the VA is significantly below average (sig-). The VA can then be described as below average. Otherwise, the VA is not significantly different from zero, which can be described as not significantly different from average.