KS3/4 Reports - Troubleshooting Progress 8 Differences (compared to DfE's Tables Checking Exercise)

This article covers steps to check why your Progress 8 figures may differ between the
KS3/4 reports in Analytics compared to the DfE’s Tables Checking Exercise.

1 / Find an example student

As the School Progress 8 score is calculated as the average of all student’s Progress 8 scores, the easiest way to determine where the discrepancy lies is to compare student level Progress 8 scores.

To do this, go to A8/P8 Area – P8 Overview Report – Students Level using the blue navigation bar in the KS3/4 reports and click the Excel spreadsheet icon on the top right hand corner to export this into Excel. You can then use a V-Lookup or Exact formula to find a difference between the P8 column in this export and the P8 scores shown in the pupil-level file from the Tables Checking.

2 / Compare the student’s Attainment 8 data between the two reports

Once you have identified a student that differs, go to Student Detail Area – Headlines Report – Students Level using the blue navigation bar (or click on the student’s name from the A8/P8 Overview Report) and check the following against your pupil-level file:

A8/P8 Summary

• KS2 A8 Prior – Is the KS2 prior attainment being calculated correctly? If not, check the individual English and Maths KS2 scores shown in the 'Basics' section on this page. If this differs, this can be amended in DATA > select KS3/4 & cohort > KS2 / EAP > Baselines > click into the subject’s grade count > ‘Edit Grades’.

Don’t forget, non-scoring KS2 levels must be manually replaced in Analytics with a valid
teacher assessment, where applicable!

• Att 8 Estimate – Is the Estimated Attainment 8 appearing correctly? If not, double check the report has been published with the very latest A8 Estimates by clicking the 'i' icon in the Dataset tab at the top. If these are incorrect, go to DATA > select KS3/4 & cohort > GRADES > Publish Grades > click ‘Publish’ next to Exams and amend the selection in the A8 Estimates dropdown to the correct option.
  
  

A8/P8 Detail

• Exams Progress 8 – Compare your student’s Progress 8 score in each basket with their score in the pupil-level file. Does the discrepancy lie within a particular basket? This could help you narrow down which qualifications to check in the next section.

Attainment 8 Qualifications

• Basket – Are the qualifications counting towards each basket the same? If not, double check the correct QN code is entered, or the SPECIAL column on the Matching page is correct (DATA > select KS3/4 & cohort > GRADES > Matching).
• Type – Are the qualification types appearing correctly? If not, double check the QN code or the KS4 MEASURE column on the Matching page is set correctly (DATA > select KS3/4 & cohort > GRADES > Matching).
• Grade – Are the grades the same for each qualification? If you need to edit any grades, go to DATA > select KS3/4 & cohort > GRADES > Grades > select Exams in the dropdown > click into the qualification’s grade count > ‘Edit Grades’.
• Att 8 Points – Are the Attainment 8 points the same for each qualification? If you need to edit the points within a grade method, go to CONFIG. > Grade Methods > KS3/4 Methods and click into the method name to check the correct points have been entered in the associated method, then click ‘Reconfigure’ to edit these in step 2.

If this grade method is being used for another qualification that is awarded different grades or points, you may need to create a new grade method and EAP for this qualification. See our guides below for more information on this.

• KS3/4 - Creating Grade Methods (Admin)
• KS3/4 - Creating EAPs (Admin)

Thanks for reading!