Last week, the British government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES) released its annual "league tables," which rate schools in England based on student performance on national tests. For the first time, DfES also issued a value-added analysis of school performance. The analysis was based on an examination of gains made by individual pupils from either age 11 to 14 or from age 14 to 16. Value-added scores were calculated by determining how much each student improved compared to other students who had similar scores on the first test, with results then averaged to the school level. Results from these value-added assessments showed that specialty grammar schools (public schools with selective admissions policies) tended to produce larger gains than comprehensives (regular public schools). These results are fueling controversy in England over the long-term role of grammar schools, which had been dismissed as an "anachronism" a few days earlier by Education Secretary Charles Clarke. For more details, including charts showing value-added results, go to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/DB/SFR/s0377/v4sfr01-2003.pdf.
"What the tables mean," The Guardian, January 23, 2002
"Grammar schools top for 'added value,'" by John Clare, The Daily Telegraph, January 23, 2003 (free registration required)