League table errors have consequences
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League table errors have consequences
https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/league-table-errors-have-consequences
An approach to the Department for Education was rebutted with a “tough luck” response. Booklets were already at the printers, “can’t do anything now”. I can just about accept that, so what about an erratum note to insert in the booklets (I recall receiving similar in 1993)? “Definitely not,” said the DFE, whose letter in response was staggering in its implications. First, it complained about the impossibility of having to correct all the other errors from all the other schools (What errors? How many other schools?). Second, it invited me to publish the correct figures.
Sixth-form recruitment is a little sensitive in this area, and the heat which fuels local debate (thus influencing “customer choice”) is stoked up by “league tables” (in this case, points score per student). If we must have these crude indicators, better that they contain accurate information. What response might I get to a school-produced circular which says: “Well, really the official DFE performance tables are wrong, we aren’t worse than the two local colleges, we are actually a lot better than one and just about equal with the other. ” Well I would say that, wouldn’t I?
B CONCHIE
Headteacher
Honley High School
Honley
Huddersfield
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