Nursery World - Value-added is 'misleading'

* Value-added scores in primary school league tables in England are misleading and should not be continued in their present form, says a report prepared for the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). The report, by the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre at the University of Durham, questioned the quality of the data used at the end of Key Stage 1 to calculate the value-added scores. It suggested that internal marking and differences between infant schools and all-through primary schools 'make the validity of comparisons between different schools questionable'.

The report, by the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre at the University of Durham, questioned the quality of the data used at the end of Key Stage 1 to calculate the value-added scores. It suggested that internal marking and differences between infant schools and all-through primary schools 'make the validity of comparisons between different schools questionable'.

NAHT general secretary David Hart said, 'How can parental choice be informed when absent pupils, pupils with statements, and units containing pupils with significant learning difficulties are counted in the tables?'

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