The non-linear nature of the new curriculum means that ideally we need to change our view of how we demonstrate progress and move away from a 'points progress' measure. In the DfE's Ofsted myth busting information they state that "Ofsted does not expect performance and pupil-tracking information to be presented in a particular format. Such information should be provided to inspectors in the format that the school would ordinarily use to monitor the progress of pupils in that school." This gives schools the freedom to demonstrate progress in a way that works for them for the purpose of impacting teaching and learning rather than simply generating data.

At Classroom Monitor there are a number of different methods that you can use to demonstrate progress which are outlined below. We are also working on further developments to provide you with more data at your fingertips.


Attainment and Progress Reports


The Attainment and Progress reports within CM2018 give you a number of ways to show progress.

  • 'Progress Point to Point' compares attainment 12 months ago with attainment now and classifies progress in relation to expectations set in your school.
  • 'Progress Raw Data' classifies points progress in the current academic year. For both types of progress measure, you can view data for each year group, each class/group in school and for the sub-groups within them (e.g. Pupil Premium).
  • 'Class Report' shows how individuals in a class have progressed over the course of the current academic year with a link directly into relevant Pupil Assessment Summaries and Assessment Progress Reports; ideal for Pupil Progress Meetings.

Please note that as this is only the first release of these reports, they are designed to work with assessment frameworks with one ability level per year group and will be most useful when most children in the same year group are working in the same ability level.


Create Prior Attainment Groups


You can create groups using attainment data which can then be used to track pupils based on their prior performance so that you can monitor how pupils who achieved high, medium or low scores at any particular date then progress. More detailed help can be found on the Prior Attainment Groups help page.


Look at Percentage Tracking


In most frameworks in Classroom Monitor, it is possible to view the percentage coverage of the pupil’s current stage in the Adjust Scores screen in the markbook or in the Attainment and Progress area.  If you load a pupil tracking table with two dates, then tick the percentage scores box, you will be able to see the number of percentage points progress that a pupil has made. If you export a table with percentage scores into Excel, you can enter a formula to automatically calculated the percentage points progress that a pupil has made.


Assessment Summaries


The Assessment Summaries output assessment information recorded in the markbooks. The Pupil Assessment Summary can be used to show pupil achievements during a particular timeframe, the Assessment Progress Report can be used to show progress at the objective level and the Learning Journey can be used to show attainment and evidence collected.


Use the Markbooks


To get a quick overview of how pupils are progressing through the curriculum, you can load up a markbook. Ordering the objectives by attainment will group all of the objectives that have been assessed together. Find out more on the reordering the Class Markbook page. The pupil markbook is also good for an overview of an individual pupil’s progress in one or more subjects.


Curriculum Tracking


Curriculum tracking enables you to track coverage of aspects of the curriculum for groups of children. You can find out more on the curriculum tracking help pages.


Compare Group Attainment Year on Year


You may already be familiar with the Group Attainment table and graphs in the Group Tracking area of Classroom Monitor. These can be used with multiple selections in order to compare attainment on two different dates. You should select the pupils, subject(s) and the first date that you require. Then you will need to create a new selection with the second date. This will allow you to compare attainment in a table or graph and exporting this to Excel will give you the options to include pupil names so that you can track the movement of individual pupils.


Use Summative Judgements


A number of schools have found that adding a manual summative judgement at key points in the year provides a useful way of tracking progress. The manual nature of the judgement means that schools can triangulate data from different sources including markbook information, test scores and knowledge of the pupils. Take a look at our help page on setting up judgement subjects.


View Points Progress as an Indicator Year on Year


Although 'points progress' does not work as effectively with the non-linear nature of the National Curriculum as it did with the previous curriculum based on levels, you can still use it to some extent should you still wish to do so. Find out more on our Points Progress help page.


If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us.