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How to analyse your data using ASP (primary)

Last reviewed on 29 October 2020
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School types: Maintained, Academy · School phases: Primary

Get to grips with analysing your data in Analyse School Performance (ASP) using guidance on how to access key data and question your results.

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Contents

  1. KS2 data
  2. KS1 data
  3. Phonics
  4. Early years data
  5. Absence and exclusions data
  6. Your inspection data summary report (IDSR)
  7. Ask questions about your school's data

Coronavirus - no data for 2020

The government will not publish any school or college level educational performance data based on tests, assessments or exams for 2020.

The performance tables that were due to be released in October and December 2020, and in January and March 2021, will not go ahead.

The government won't publish any national, regional, local or constituency statistics for any primary school assessments for the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

This includes:

  • Early years foundation stage profile
  • Phonics
  • Key stage 1
  • Multiplication tables check
  • Key stage 2

Is this article for me?

This article's for you if you're responsible for looking at data. Usually this is:

  • The chair
  • The board's data specialist
  • A committee focused on performance data

Use our 'tips for analysis' throughout the article as a starting point to ask your senior leaders questions. 

Not all governors have access to ASP - if you're unsure if you need access, ask your chair. If you haven't been given a log-in it's likely you don't need it, so this article's not for you.

We worked with 3 of our associate education experts - Brendan Hollyer, David Driscoll and Ben White - to write this article.

KS2 data

The landing page of ASP is focused on your Key Stage (KS) 2 progress and attainment data.

For each of the reading, writing and mathematics KS2 tests, it shows:

  • Your school’s progress scores in reading, writing and maths
  • The percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard (a scaled score of 100 or more) in all of reading, writing and maths, compared to the national and local authority (LA) average
  • The percentage of pupils achieving the higher standard (a scaled score of 110 or more) in all of reading, writing and maths, compared to the national and LA average
  • Your school’s average scaled score in both reading and maths

For the data on this page, you can:

  • 'View pupil breakdown' - this allows you to view the graphs as scatter plots that set out the measure for each subject, for different groups
  • 'Explore data in detail' - this sets out the data out in a table that provides a breakdown by pupil group and prior attainment. You can select filters in these tables to only show certain information, e.g. disadvantaged boys or girls in a low prior attainment band 

By using the tabs on the left hand menu, you can also access data on:

  • Progress and attainment for disadvantaged pupils by prior attainment
  • 3-year average (2017-19) of:
    • The percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths, compared to the national and LA average 
    • The percentage of pupils achieving the higher standard in all of reading, writing and maths, compared to the national and LA average 
    • The average scaled score in both reading and maths, compared to the national and LA average
  • Your school's 2019 progress and attainment data compared to 2017 and 2018

Additional data for English grammar, punctuation and spelling (EGPS) and science can be found on the left hand side under 'additional reports'.

Confidence intervals

This is a number range which you'll see underneath the progress in reading, writing and maths scores.

You have a confidence interval as ASP acknowledges that it's difficult to say how much of the score is down to the school, and how much is down to the pupils. For example, your school might have scored higher with different pupils, or the pupils would have performed the same at any school.

Your school is above average if your progress score is above 0 and the whole confidence interval is above 0.

Your school is below average if your progress score is below 0 and the whole confidence interval is below 0.

If you have more pupils, the confidence range is smaller. If you have fewer pupils, the range is bigger.

 

Tips for analysis

  • Look to see if your progress score and whole confidence interval is above or below 0 - this will indicate above or below average progress
  • Focus on areas where your school data differs significantly from national data
  • Look at differences between related elements of the data (i.e., a particular group across different measures, or attainment and progress in the same subject)
  • Consider the context of a group. For example, a group of pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) that are underperforming may be due to some of them having special educational needs (SEN) as well
  • Avoid jumping to conclusions with small groups of pupils; 1 or 2 pupils' results can have a greater effect on the overall outcome
  • Look at the 3 year average and results over 3 years - is your school performing significantly better or worse than local and national averages? Is this consistent over the 3 years?
  • Look for patterns in pupil groups. For example, do boys always perform less well than girls? Are disadvantaged pupils making slower progress across all subjects?

KS1 data

Select the KS1 tab at the top of the page. Here you can view graphs comparing the percentage of pupils attaining the expected standard in, and achieving greater depth in, reading, writing and maths against the average for all schools in the LA and nationally.

By clicking 'explore data in detail' you can get a breakdown of the data by pupil group and prior attainment. 

You can view for each of reading, writing and maths:

  • The cohort
  • The percentage of pupils who achieved greater depth
  • The percentage of pupils who achieved the expected standard or higher
  • The percentage of pupils working towards the expected standard
  • The percentage of pupils working at the pre-KS1 standard

Tips for analysis

  • Again, focus on areas where your school data differs significantly from national data
  • Look at differences between related elements of the data (i.e., a particular group across different measures, or attainment and progress in the same subject)
  • Consider the context of a group. For example, a group of pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) that are underperforming may be due to some of them having special educational needs (SEN) as well
  • Avoid jumping to conclusions with small groups of pupils; 1 or 2 pupils' results can have a greater effect on the overall outcome
  • Look for patterns in pupil groups. For example, do boys always perform less well than girls? Are disadvantaged pupils making slower progress across all subjects?

Phonics

Select the phonics tab at the top of the page. Here you can view:

  • Percentage achieving the expected standards in phonics against the LA and national average
  • Phonics average score against the LA and national average
  • A graph which shows the number of pupils that scored between 0-7; 8-15; 16-23; 24-31 and 32-40 (and those with no score recorded)
  • A graph which shows attainment in phonics as a percentage compared to the LA and national average

Under each graph, you can also 'explore the data in detail'. Clicking this under any of the graphs provides a table that shows:

  • The cohort
  • The number of pupils absent
  • The number of pupils not achieving the expected standard
  • The percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard compared to the national benchmark
  • The average mark compared to the national benchmark

Tips for analysis

See the tips suggested for KS1.

Early years data

On the 'Early years' tab, you can view the percentage of pupils achieving a good level of development against the LA and national average. The 'explore data in detail' link shows pupil achievement by:

  • Gender
  • Eligibility for free school meals (FSM)
  • Pupils with SEN and an educational, health and care plan (EHCP)
  • Pupils with SEN support
  • Pupils with no SEN

It also displays achievement in each of the 17 early learning goals (ELGs) underneath.

Tips for analysis

See the tips suggested for KS1.

Absence and exclusions data

The 'all reports' tab includes links for your school's absence and exclusions data.

The absence report shows the percentage of sessions missed due to absence and the percentage of 'persistent absentees' (pupils absent for 10% or more sessions).

The exclusions report shows as a percentage of the pupil group:

  • Permanent exclusions
  • Fixed period exclusions 
  • Pupils with 1 or more fixed-period exclusions
  • Pupils with more 2 or more fixed-period exclusion

Both of these reports also include pupil group breakdowns. There is also a '3 year trend' report showing this information combined over 3 years.

Tips for analysis

  • Compare attendance data to progress data to determine whether attendance is a key factor in the under achievement of any groups
  • Use trends in attendance and exclusions over time as indicators for behaviour and attitude

Your inspection data summary report (IDSR)

This is available in the 'all reports' tab. 

2019 IDSR update: it's shorter and contains fewer charts. It now includes:

  • New contextual information 
  • New attainment trend charts
  • A re-structured primary report to focus on subjects across the school, such as reading/literacy
  • A reduced focus on pupil group performance
  • Expanded destinations data, to include breakdown of pupil destinations for the past 3 years

How to use it

You can use the IDSR to view data which isn't included in ASP. The ISDR is used by Ofsted inspectors when preparing to inspect your school - it aligns with Ofsted's inspection handbook so they can identify areas of interest for inspection. 

Grey sentences mean:

  • There isn't anything significant to note (a sentence will be triggered by high/low performance)
  • The criteria haven't been met for a minimum of the latest year
  • The cohort is too small (10 or fewer)

Read guidance from Ofsted on how to use the IDSR.

Tips for analysis

  • Use the data in this section to identify variations between cohorts, and identify emerging trends that may need to be taken into account when planning the curriculum e.g. if there's an increasing number of children with SEND entering the school
  • Look for the outliers (where you're significantly above or below the national average), and ask questions about why this is, and what's being done about it

Ask questions about your school's data

The questions you ask yourselves and your senior leadership team will largely depend on what the data tells you. Use your data as starting point for further conversations as it's there to inform.

You might ask:

  • Is the data showing what we expected? If not, why not?
  • Are there differences with national data? What is this telling us?
  • What are the areas of strength, and areas for improvement?
  • What is the data telling us about different groups?
  • How does this compare to last year? Are variations a trend, or cohort specific?
  • What's being done about areas for improvement?
  • Do the areas for improvement align with the school improvement plan?

You'll also find the tips for analysis in the grey text boxes in this article useful when interpreting your data.

Sources

Ben White is the director of curriculum at an ‘outstanding’ secondary school and research director for Ashford Teaching Alliance. He is also a specialist leader of education. Ben’s areas of experience include staff development, curriculum reform, evidence-based practice, and effective assessment and evaluation.

David Driscoll is an independent consultant and a senior partner with an education consultancy. He has considerable experience of supporting schools to analyse their data to improve achievement, teaching and leadership.

Brendan Hollyer is the vice-chair of governors at a primary school and an all-through special school. He has been a national leader of governance since 2014 and provides training and support to schools in the south east. Brendan has also worked as the director of conversions and governance for a multi-academy trust.

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