Value added measure - what does it actually mean?

[StormyTeapot]

Can anybody explain Value added measure to me please? What sort of score should I be looking for?

[WilfShelf]

I don't know exactly how it is measured in secondary schools but it will be how much improvement in reaching targets, results etc the pupils are making over and above the grades/targets they came in with: in other words, its probably a measure of the quality of teaching (as opposed to how bright/middle class the intake is)

But that's just my guess from another educational sector: no doubt some teacher will come on a correct me. And no idea about what actual score to look for

[GrimmaTheNome]

essentially they score the kids on input and exit and improvement gets you a good score.

So typically a grammar school may not have a very good Value Added measure but a comp which takes in semi-illiterate kids from failing primaries and manages to teach them something will get a good score.

Also, schools which do non-standard GCSEs (like the harder 'international' maths get null points which makes their scores low and meaningless.

[Talker2010]

A score of 1000 means that students achieved, on average, the GCSE scores that they were predicted by external agencies using their KS2 results

CVA means Contextual VA and the targets set take into account the individual student's gender, ethnicity, post code, age, and other stuff

So, over 1000 is very good but a standard sized secondary school (1200 kids) would be doing fine if their CVA is anywhere between 990 and 1010

[Talker2010]

In addition ... only a student's best 8 GCSEs are used in these calculations

[Talker2010]

Oh, and IGCSEs will be included from now on

[Talker2010]

If you are looking at a Comp then

52%+ A*-C and a CVA of 990+ means you have average intake with average progress

Higher A*-C but lower CVA probably have a better intake but making less progress

Lower A* - C but higher CVA has a less able intake with good progress for that level of student

[GrimmaTheNome]

Oh, and IGCSEs will be included from now on

oh good, didn't know that.

[StormyTeapot]

Thank you so much.

It's a little clearer now

[bulby]

Cva takes into account the background and targets of the children in the cohort. Unfortunately it still isn't a 'fair' indicator as a school with a high proportion of pupils targeted a* has an almost impossible job of getting a cva above 1000 because the kids can not get higher than their target. Also targets already take into account how deprived an area is ( fft) so doubly difficult for less deprived kids to score over 1000. Schools with very high cva (1040 ish) have nearly always gone down the alternatives to gcse route. I may sound cynical but have worked in a number of schools. Sadly schools that ' play the game' achieve well on cva

[Talkinpeace]

CVA results are not based on public exams (in my experience as a governor) they are based on the QCA tests and the Fischer Family Trust Data set

Basically, kids are expected to increase by 2 fine scale points per year

so at KS1 they are 2a (year 2)
at KS2 (4 years later) they are 4c
at KS3 (3 years later) they are 5c
at KS4 (GCSE) they are 6b

So you can see that the targets are low :
bright kids - dd is top set at her local comp in year 8 = 6a across the board

if a secondary takes in a stack of 4c kids and turns them in to 6a or 7c it gets good VA

if it is selective and takes in only 5c and chucks out 7c, it has done diddly squat with them

OFSTED had a daft hiccup when Broon was PM to rule out VA
hopefully Gove will see that VA is all that really matters

Any school can do well with the top kids. A good school does well with all kids.

[senua]

Just to muddy the waters even further ...

Basically you compare how the kids did at KS2 (Y6) to how they did at KS4 (GCSEs). However, what they get at KS2 is capped, so you cannot score higher than a Level 5. So you could have the situation where you have a mini-Einstein who is Level 8 at KS2 (but will only be assessed as Level 5) who then doesn't shine at Secondary school (for whatever reason) and goes on to get grade B at GCSE. On paper the child would appear to have improved dramatically (thanks to the school) but actually has not improved any since Y6.
This is why Grammars get good CVA scores, because they have an artificially low base.

[Talker2010]

Well, apart from the fact that a 5A at KS2 would be expected to achieve 7A (or 8 in maths) which then gives A or better as a target for GCSE

In a school with low FSM that target will be A*

So a B would pretty much always give a -ve CVA with the example given

[Talkinpeace]

Talker - low FSM may impact on the OFSTED expectation
but it does not impact on the FFT and QCA scores
as Senua says, Grammars have DIRE record for VA

and as somebody who went to selective private girls from 4 to 18
Comps are the best where they have the good kids...
Why?
because where you have Grammar / Sec Mod
if the kid is in the wrong set, its too late, they are stuffed
at DD's school kids HAVE moved from set 5 to set 1 because primary school misjudged them

and me...
having never met "real people" till after I graduated, I had no concept of how most people think
and the whole of our current political class took the same path I did, but never left it
Go figure...

[Talker2010]

Talkin ... Low FSM does impact on CVA

[Talkinpeace]

I'll take your word for it, but having churned through pages of FFT and QCA, where?

[tokyonambu]

"Any school can do well with the top kids. A good school does well with all kids."

But the CVA doesn't tell you that. It needs to be broken down by band. A school which does very well with children arriving with lower KS2 results, but nothing with children with higher KS2 results, will still have a good CVA, but the middle classes will be running for the hills.

[MmeBlueberry]

We do baseline testing in Year 7 (VR/non-VR/mathematical/processing skills, and based on national data, this predicts GCSE scores for each pupil.

Once we get the GCSE results, we compare them to the Year 7 predictions, and work out how many grades above their predictions they are. Our average VA at our school is close to 2 GCSE grades higher than predictions in each subject.

[ewjt]

i'm confused. my local school has a cva of 1030 but a gcse a-c pass rate of only 40%. what does this mean?

[tokyonambu]

It means they have a terrible intake.

[IndigoBell]

It means it's a great school. That gets good results from kids who aren't expected to do well. This is the kind of school I'm looking for.

[Talkinpeace]

ewjt
ask how the top 30 kids did....
what are the schools aspirations for them?

deadbeat kids with deadbeat parents - they have at least kept them in school - an achievement in itself