How to analyse exam results data to improve school performance.
Exam results have always been important in education, but their value extends far beyond simple grades. Today, schools are finding new ways to use this data to improve education at all levels- keep reading to make sure your MAT/ School doesn’t get left behind! In this blog post, we will delve into how schools can use exam results data to extract insights that help make better decisions about teaching methods, student support, and overall school management.
We'll discuss practical ways to use exam data, from understanding individual student needs to comparing school performance with national averages. Our goal is to show how this data can be a powerful tool for improving school-wide academic achievements.
The ‘Ideal’ school
Choosing the right school for children is a decision of paramount importance for parents. This choice can significantly influence not only their academic trajectory but also their personal development and future prospects. From early years through secondary education and beyond, each stage plays a vital role in shaping a child's future.
In any given area, parents are spoilt for choice of schools. Each institution has its own unique characteristics, growth strategies, and approaches to education. Therefore, when evaluating potential schools, parents tend to consider an extensive list of factors:
- Location and Accessibility
- Official Ratings and Inspections (For example, Ofsted)
- School Ethos and Values
- Curriculum Offerings
- Class Sizes
- Teacher Qualifications
- Special Needs Support
- Student Diversity
- Infrastructure and Safety Measures
- Extracurricular Activities
- Parent Feedback and Reviews
And more…
One of such key factors is academic achievements. Schools are often assessed based on their performance across various stages and curricula, with comparisons made to average scores at state, national, regional, and even global levels. Having a strategy to effectively showcase this performance has always been a priority for educational institutions.
Let's look how this performance is typically defined and measured…
KPIs to measure ‘Academic Achievement’ for schools
Academic achievement refers to how well a student or school meets their educational goals, whether short-term or long-term. For students, this is often measured by their grades or grade point average. For schools, academic achievement can be gauged by looking at how many students successfully graduate. However, these aren't the only ways to measure academic success. Schools and educational experts use various metrics to get a holistic picture of student and institutional performance. These metrics can include:
- Standardised test scores
- Progress measures (value-added scores)
- Graduation rates
- College acceptance rates
- Student retention rates
- Subject-specific achievements
- Extracurricular accomplishments
By looking at a comprehensive set of measures, schools can better understand their overall performance and identify areas where they excel or need improvement.
Wondering which metrics, you should be tracking to get the most accurate picture of your school's performance? There is no right or wrong answer, every school comes with different goals. Ei Square can help you identify the most relevant data points for your institution to achieve your preferred outcomes. Give us a call today for guidance tailored to your school’s unique requirements.
However, evaluating a school's academic performance is not as straightforward as it might seem. In fact, it can be quite tricky and complex for school management to comprehend, analyse, and strategise effectively.
For instance, factors like the diverse abilities of the student body, capacity and qualifications of the faculty and range of courses offered are all metrics that indirectly impact academic performance of a school and therefore must be taken into account. Moreover, the type of school - whether independent or state-run - is another crucial factor to consider, as these institutions often operate differently in their approaches to improving student outcomes.
Schools often rely on official inspections as key performance indicators. However, these assessments, typically conducted by a small team over just a few days every four to six years, shouldn't be the sole measure of a school's success. Such brief evaluations can't possibly capture the full picture of a school's performance, and judgements based on this limited snapshot may not truly represent the institution's overall effectiveness.
This is where data-driven analysis and insights become essential tools for school management as it offers a more comprehensive view of a school's performance. To name a few, it can provide:
A clear snapshot of students' current progress
Insights into areas where students are excelling
Identification of subjects or skills where students may be struggling
Guidance on what can be done to meet students' specific academic needs
This approach allows for a more dynamic and responsive educational environment, one that can adapt to the changing needs of its student body and continually improve its academic outcomes. However, implementing effective data analysis strategies can be challenging for many schools.
At Ei Square, we specialise in providing comprehensive data analysis and actionable insights for schools. Our team of experts can help you interpret your school's performance data, identify areas for improvement, and develop targeted strategies to enhance student outcomes. Let us partner with you to leverage the power of data and drive meaningful improvements in your educational institution.
Decoding the calculation of standardised test scores
Before we delve into more complex analytics, let's start with understanding exam results data. This data is typically organised by curriculum and subject, based on the marks scored and their corresponding grades.
Calculating Average Point Score:
One key measure used to assess an institution's academic performance is the average point score. Here's how it's calculated:
- Add up the total points achieved by all students in a particular curriculum and subject
- Divide this total by the number of subjects taken
Another crucial metric is the 'Pass rate'.
Calculating Pass Rates:
To calculate this:
- Count the total number of students who achieved passing grades
- Divide this by the total number of students who took the exam
For example, if 100 students scored grades from A* to D (considered passing grades), and 20 scored E or U (considered failing grades), the calculation would be:
Pass rate = 100 / (100 + 20) = 100 / 120 = 83.33%
These basic metrics provide a foundation for understanding a school's academic performance. However, there's much more we can learn from the data.
Here's an example to help explain these concepts. Remember, this example could apply to any subject in any curriculum, but the actual scores for each grade might be different depending on the specific curriculum.
Schools would typically perform these calculations for all subjects and compare results year-over-year to track progress.
How to use exam results to build insights for school and pupil progression?
Using exam results data effectively is key to improving both school and student performance. While basic scores are useful, the real value comes from deeper analysis of this data. By using advanced analysis methods, educators can find important trends and patterns to guide their decisions and help students who need it.
Let's examine the various types of data that can provide these valuable insight:
1) Individual subject assessment for curriculum upgrades:
Exam results view for each subject over the years assists school leaders in understanding which courses or programs are successful, and which ones need improvement.
For example, a significant increase in Chemistry pass rate could be due to recent upgrades in lessons and course design, implementation of new teaching methodologies, or the addition of specialized teaching staff.
Likewise, a noticeable dip in Mathematics results must be analysed to understand contributing factors such as: changes in curriculum or teaching methods, student engagement levels, teacher performance or exam difficulty compared to previous years.
This analysis enables school leaders to:
Identify trends in subject performance
Make data-driven decisions for curriculum upgrades
Develop targeted interventions for subjects showing decline
Replicate successful strategies from high-performing subjects
By systematically examining these trends and their potential causes, Education Heads can enhance curriculum effectiveness and improve overall student performance.
2) Optional Subject Selection for pupils:
Comparative analysis across multiple subjects provides valuable information to pupils regarding subjects with historically better performance outcomes.
Pupils will need guidance and support throughout the subject selection process. Guidance for pupils should include:
Counselling sessions to discuss optional subjects aligned with their interests and aptitudes
Detailed information on course content, assessment methods, and potential career paths for each subject
Insights into the difficulty level and workload associated with different subjects
For students who may not achieve their desired results in preferred subjects, it's important to highlight alternative educational paths and subject combinations and emphasise that academic performance in one area doesn't limit overall potential.
3) Grade assessment:
This focuses on identifying the highest-performing students: in analysing the percentage of pupils achieving top grades (A and A*) & comparing these percentages against schools with the maximum proportion of A and A* grade achievers.
This comparative analysis serves multiple purposes:
Benchmarking the school's performance against top-performing institutions
Identifying areas of excellence and potential improvement within the school
Providing context for setting realistic yet ambitious goals
School administrators can utilise this data to set up targeted goals for pupils to progress from lower to higher grades & implement tailored support systems for different student performance levels.
4) APS comparison with UK average
APS (Average Point Score) comparison with the UK average is one of the key areas of interest for Education stakeholders. This comparison provides a critical benchmark for school performance, with stakeholders consistently aiming to achieve results above the national average at the very least.
The comparison is typically presented like the reference image below. The blue line represents the school's performance over time. The dotted line shows the average performance of ALL schools in the specific country or region (e.g., UK average).
Education stakeholders can utilise this comparison in several ways:
Setting realistic yet ambitious performance targets for the school.
Recognising and celebrating instances where the school exceeds the average.
Making informed decisions about resource allocation and strategic planning to enhance overall performance.
Advanced data analytics strategies for educational performance
Beyond traditional metrics, educational institutions can uncover powerful insights by exploring often-overlooked data points.
Results analysis based on diverse attributes
Data Analytics can help Education makers perform predictive analysis on scores and grades based on various factors such as gender, ethnicity, parents' qualifications, and languages spoken. This approach allows educators to:
Set up custom groups to compare results from different student populations based on diversity.
Analyse all groups to inform course upgrades and draft custom lessons accordingly.
For instance, if there are 20 pupils in a year group for whom English is a second language, resulting in lower grades in English Literature, the school can arrange custom lessons and extra time with tutors until these students catch up to the pace of the other 100 students.
Similarly, information about parents' qualifications can assist (to a certain degree) with guiding students towards appropriate secondary and optional courses.
Clean analytics can help educators identify at-risk students and provide them with targeted feedback and instructional content.
2. Social situations preparation
Exam results analysis should consider broader social contexts:
The impact of events like Covid-19 and the return to in-person exams can be crucial factors affecting results.
Many schools experienced fluctuating exam results during the pandemic.
The rapid shift from in-person to online education likely affected both pupils' and teachers' performance as they adjusted to the new normal.
While this situation was widespread, not all schools and curriculums were equally impacted, and different institutions employed various strategies for damage control.
A detailed analysis of exam results from 2019 to 2022 can help identify lessons learned for future similar situations.
3. Improvement of Enrolments and Retentions
Analysing exam results and identifying root causes of performance dips, along with their correlation to student departures, can help educators develop strategies to combat surges in leavers.
For example, if students are leaving due to the unavailability of certain optional subjects, the curriculum could be expanded by hiring teachers qualified in those areas.
This comprehensive approach to data analysis enables schools to:
Tailor their teaching methods to diverse student needs
Prepare for and respond to extraordinary circumstances
Improve student retention and attraction rates
In nutshell,
Analysis of a capacious range of exam data, that could never be manually collected or maintained on an excel or paper approach, can yield insights that you may not even have thought of until you spend some time doing the worthwhile exercise.
Such activity would open new gates into study of courses’ effectiveness, student behaviour and calibre, examination scheduled (closer to holidays or winter/fall terms performance), grades improvement owing to better qualified staff being onboarded etc. – the list is endless, and this is where Data and analytics champions at EI Square can pave the way for cleaner, convenient and comprehensible insights.