Managing School Test and Assessment Data Manual
Theresa Mullane
Do you feel completely overwhelmed with the amount of data your school receives?  With information about your school's performance coming from your LEA, the DfES and OFSTED, it sometimes becomes difficult to decide how best to use all this information to make informed decisions about your school's performance.  Practical advice on how to successfully analyse performance data  The aim of this easy-to-use manual is to provide you with practical advice to help you evaluate all the performance data your school receives. This will then enable you to set objectives for performance management, prioritise plans for school improvement and plan your school's programme.  Divided into sections to provide a step-by-step approach to evaluating performance data  Managing School Test and Assessment Data Manual is divided into sections which allow you to dip in and select the areas that reflect your needs and those of your school at particular times.  It shows you how: * to review data provided by the LEA's statistical department, the DfES Autumn Package or OFSTED's PANDA Report * average points are calculated and how these can be used to monitor trends within subjects * your school's prior attainment measure is calculated, and considers some of the issues, such as pupil mobility, that can affect this indicator * a pupil's baseline or Key Stage 1 point score can be calculated and suggests how this may be used to track pupils' progress and to consider value added issues * to use 'progress charts' or 'value added lines' to check how individuals or classes have done when compared with other pupils in the national sample * to evaluate information from Year 3,4 and 5 tests so that pupils' progress can be monitored * to use baseline information or information from the Key Stage 1 reading and writing tests to inform your teachers on what to teach and what pupils learn * individual targets can be set and teaching groups organised around what is to be learnt * to brief all staff about your school's test results and the outcomes of other end-of-year tests and assessments * to brief governors about your school's test results and the profiles of different year groups so that they have an overview of attainment and progress in your school.  Use performance data to support different areas within your school  This practical manual enables you to use performance data to support work in a number of different areas such as: * self-review process * performance management * school improvement planning * monitoring pupils' progress * OFSTED inspection process * core subject curriculum management * educational inclusion.