Private schools achieve “slightly higher” value added scores at A level than state schools whose pupils have similar expected results, new research has found.
The findings run counter to an analysis that last week suggested that pupils at top comprehensive schools make better progress than those at the highest-performing independent schools.
That research, by Tom Richmond, a former senior policy adviser at the Department for Education, was labelled “misleading” by independent schools.
They said their pupils’ high GCSE performance limited the amount of progress they could demonstrate, even if they achieved top A-level scores.
Now, in a blog for Education Datalab, Dave Thomson, chief statistician at the Fischer Family Trust, has also calculated the progress made by A-level students at top state and independent schools.
However, his method takes into account a range of factors such as pupils’ prior attainment, the subjects they study at A level, and whether or not the school is in London.
Mr Thomson selected the 141 state schools with the same range of “expected average point score” per A-level entry as the 10 top state schools used by Mr Richmond, and compared them with the 305 private schools with the same range of expected APS per entry.
He found that these independent schools had an A-level value added score of 0.15, while that of the state schools was 0.03.
He wrote: “In fact, very similar results are produced when the state schools are matched to independent schools on the basis of expected A-level results, number of students, mean number of A levels per student and whether or not the school is in London.
“At the risk of being a killjoy, it seems that independent schools do tend to achieve slightly higher value-added scores than state schools where expected results are similar.”
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