Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

Date04/04/24

AuthorRichard Selfridge

What message has the Data Wave left for educationalists?
photo: Jayne Harris/Unsplash

What was the Data Wave in education?

In ‘The Next Big Thing in School Improvement’ (2022), Professor Becky Allen, Matthew Evans and Ben White identify a series of ‘waves’ which had washed across the education landscape.

If you were working in schools in the 2000s you will probably remember the ‘Differentiation Wave’ where thinking shifted towards recognising and addressing the diverse needs of individual students.

Those in school now will be feeling the impact of the current ‘Curriculum Wave’ which advocates curriculum reform as a solution to educational inequalities.

In between those two waves was a ‘Data Wave’, which pushed data analysis as the dominant solution for educational issues.

The aftermath of this is still being felt in the school system.

What is the legacy of the educational Data Wave?

One lingering legacy is the notion of Expected Progress - the idea that schools, teachers and students could be judged using assessment data generated within the system.

Another of its legacies is the surplus of ‘tracking systems’.

These tend to encourage a short-term view of a student’s journey through school and endlessly ‘baselines’ them.

This could entrench a mindset which expends a great deal of effort generating and storing data with potentially very little impact on what actually happens in the classroom.

It is now rare to find a school in England which does not generate assessment information multiple times a year.

But, in my experience, it is equally rare to find a school which actually does much of genuine use with this data other than worry about it.

How can data be used to improve education outcomes and efficiency?

Research summarised by the Education Endowment Foundation suggests that schools should focus on quality teaching, targeted academic support and wider strategies to maximise their impact.

Where students aren’t keeping up with their peers, schools need to act quickly to provide support.

High-quality data will help identify what is working and what is not.

That analysis will guide schools to make changes which can have a direct impact on outcomes for those needing additional support.

How can schools use statistics to guide teaching priorities?

Schools can use a range of data to identify which students are in school, in class, focused and learning what we want them to.

The data will show that, provided they are developing as expected, this group needs the lightest of touches.

At the same time it gives schools clarity about which children do need support.

If significant numbers of students in any given school need help to ensure they are in school or in class, good data will identify who they are and allow support to be focused on them.

That, in turn, will generate more in-depth data which will help schools understand and address the challenges these students face and help them to get back on track as soon as possible.

This sounds deceptively simple but requires an understanding that high-quality assessment data, although crucial, is only one part of the statistical toolkit schools need.

It is most effective when combined with contextual and developmental data as well as details of any support given to pupils in the past.

How do schools create the best data?

So, what should schools be doing to ensure that they are generating the highest quality student assessment data?

A good start is to ensure that all those involved in creating, collating and analysing student data have a good understanding of both the benefits and potential pitfalls of using assessment data to summarise educational experiences.

Understanding how and why assessments are standardised, for example, and how data can be used to build pictures of students over time can help avoid expending time and energy on low-grade data which may misinform or misdirect.

What has the education Data Wave left behind?

Given the increasing power we have to generate and collate information, harnessing data on students will become more - not less - necessary in future.

Schools have every reason to focus on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their systems to process, analyse and act on student data so that they take less time to generate more useful information on which they can act.

The ‘Data Wave’ may have washed over education and receded, but it has left behind the knowledge that developing a strategic approach to refining use of student data will ensure that what remains will make a difference where it counts, reducing unproductive effort and focusing on getting support to where it is most needed.

Richard Selfridge is a teacher, education data consultant and author. His latest book, Using Student Data is due to be published later this year.

As part of AQi’s work, we are inviting people from a wide range of viewpoints to engage with us on a wide range of topics. We welcome alternative views to help stimulate discussion and ideas. The views of external contributors do not necessarily represent the views of AQi or AQA.

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Briefing

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

According to the latest PISA results, England’s science scores are still on a downward trajectory that started a decade ago. Yet TIMSS, another respected study, has science performances rising. Which of them is right? Is one more valid than the other? In this blog AQi examines three International Large-Scale Assessments and finds that, although they may look the same from a distance, get up close and you’ll find they are very different beasts.

Adaptive Assessment

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

The number of students resitting their maths GCSE is growing, but the proportion getting a grade 4 or higher is falling. This situation is not only dispiriting for the young people striving to get the qualifications they need, but also for the teachers working hard to help them. How can outcomes for this cohort be improved? Bart Crisp, associate director at the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, thinks adaptive assessment may be part of the solution.

SEND

Student success: Every milestone matters

Baroness Morgan is calling for students to be given ‘self-belief’ lessons as a way of developing their characters and preparing them for the future. She is not the first to notice that a student’s sense of their own ability and their level of success are part of a virtuous circle. But how can teachers get the snowball rolling for students with SEND or in alternative provision? In this blog, former headteacher, John Tomsett, pulls out a swimming certificate he earned more than half a century ago to use as an inspiration for others.

Assessment

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 has come in for criticism in recent months for the way it combines with the Ebacc to skew schools’ focus towards academic subjects at the expense of creative and technical options. Both Labour and a Lords committee have called for reform to boost uptake of declining subjects such as D&T, dance and drama. In the second of two blogs looking at Progress 8, AQi examines whether the accountability measure could be realigned to address these concerns and if so, how could that be done?

Assessment

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

Eight years after Progress 8 came into existence it is facing calls to be updated. Some say reforming the schools accountability measure can halt the decline in take up of the arts, while others want it to boost numbers taking vocational and technical subjects. Are its shoulders broad enough to take on such a load? In the first of two blogs on Progress 8, AQi looks at how it came into being, what problems it was designed to solve and whether it is flexible enough to be reformed.

Assessment

2023: A year in review

As we wrap up a year full of exciting developments in education, it is the perfect time to take stock of what has gone on. In this blog, editor of AQi, Anil Dawar, reflects on some of his highlights for 2023.

Download a PDF version.

Download a copy of this content to your device as a PDF file. We generate PDF versions for the convenience of offline reading, but we recommend sharing this link if you'd like to send it to someone else.

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

What was the Data Wave in education?

What is the legacy of the educational Data Wave?

How can data be used to improve education outcomes and efficiency?

How can schools use statistics to guide teaching priorities?

How do schools create the best data?

What has the education Data Wave left behind?

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

Student success: Every milestone matters

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

2023: A year in review

Join the conversation on Twitter

Download a PDF version.

Sign up to our newsletter