When publishing your Grades datasets in GRADES > Publish Grades, in the Publish window you may have noticed a purple warning icon next to the 'KS2 Baseline Type:'. This icon can also be seen above the A8 Estimates and VA Estimates dropdowns, in the screenshot below:
The Purple warning icon indicates that the KS2 Baseline Type in use differs from the KS2 Baseline Type required for the selected Publishing Options.
In the screenshot above, the warning is showing because the KS2 Baseline Type in use is 'Scaled Scores' whereas the A8 Estimates and VA Estimates selected are '2019' - which uses NC Fine Levels. Whilst this warning does not prevent you from publishing your data set to the Reports, it serves as a warning that there may be some figures that don't show or, if they do, show incorrectly with the current publishing options.
How to resolve the issue
In order to fix this you will need to ensure that the KS2 Baseline Type in use in your cohort matches the KS2 Baseline Type required to publish your Grades with the selected options. This involves either editing the selected publishing options or editing the KS2 Baseline Type in use in your cohort.
Option 1 - Editing Publishing Options
Editing the publishing options selected in the Publish Window to match your cohort's KS2 Baseline Type is the quickest way to fix this. If your cohort uses Scaled Scores then the A8 Estimates and VA Estimates you can use with these KS2 Baselines are:
- 2022 - 2023 - The official validated Attainment 8 Estimates for the relevant years' cohort as provided by the DfE.
- 2022 - 2023 Provisional - The official provisional Attainment 8 Estimates for the relevant years' cohort as provided by the DfE.
- 2021 - 2023 Collab - Exams - A set of estimates calculated by Sisra using the exam grades from our Exams Data Collaboration for the relevant year, and use your students' Scaled Scores. Please note - these are not official DfE estimates.
If your cohort uses NC Fine Levels, then the A8 Estimates and VA Estimates you can use with these KS2 Baselines are:
- 2019 - A set of estimates calculated by the DfE using the national data from the 2018/19 cohort.
- Any other set of estimates pre-2021.
Option 2 - Editing your KS2 Baselines
If you'd like to edit the KS2 Baseline Type in use in your cohort instead, you'll be able to do this using the KS2 Baseline Override found in KS2 / EAP > Data Collaboration.
Activating this will tell Analytics to use the 'NC Fine Levels' KS2 Baseline Type, whereas leaving it deactivated will use your 'Scaled Scores'.
Please note that following the DfE's release of the 2023 official Attainment 8 estimates which are mapped to Scaled Scores, the Baseline Override feature for using converted NC Fine Levels is no longer recommended.
Thanks for reading!