FFT aspire exporting pupils into SIMS

[dataday]

Hi all.

I'm a new user (both of here and FFT Aspire) and I'm trying to import my pupil target data into Sims. I have sorted the targets and removed all those who do not study a particular subject (i.e. 70 out of 210 study art, so I have removed 140 targets), yet when I take a download from FFT, it brings in all 210 targets again. How do I get a usable spreadsheet to import into Sims please? Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

[RootsSchImp]

I would do this by creating a report listing upn and subject code then concatenating them in excel (e.g 123456778Ken) call that column upnsubs.

 

I'd then rename the column headings of my FFT export as subject codes. And copy the pupil names and upns to a third sheet with the same subject code headings. Then in the space for the data use =if(iserror(match(concatenate($a2,D$1),upnsubs,0)),"",index(fftdata,match($a2,fftdata!A1:a300,0),match(D$1,fftdata!1:1,0))

Where column a has upns and subs start from column D.

 

Thats a little tricky in Excel tho so if you're not familiar with all those formulas, import the whole lot into Sims, open a marksheet with them all on it. Filter it to art students, change the result date, copy and paste the data and save. Repeat for all subjects then bulk delete the grades with the original result date.

 

While we're here, using FFT estimates as targets, while common, is not good practice. They are the median achievement of kids with similar prior attainment (so around a third of kids do better, a third to do worse). That means lots of your kids 'below target' aren't underachieving, whereas lots who are 'on target' are.

[bobsmith]

agreed with your last paragraph RootSchImp however you can adjust the targets in FFT and it'll show the % likelihood of getting a better or worse grade.

 

You can use that to fine tune them to eliminate that issue to a large degree.

 

Also if you're using FFT5 then you're targeting based on how those students perform in the top 5% of schools, which if you're not in the top 5% of schools already, adds a healthy dose of aspiration to the targets.

 

It's definitely better than a lot of targeting systems I've seen used. I've been in the situation where the head wanted everyone targeted at 3LoP!!!

[RootsSchImp]

you can adjust the targets in FFT and it'll show the % likelihood of getting a better or worse grade.

 

 

That's a good point and it's why Aspire can be useful, but really only as a tool to inform teacher target setting as, obviously, once you've imported single grade estimates that nuance is lost.

 

I also don't buy the 'we're using top 5% of schools so they are challenging' argument because the most likely grade doesn't change for that many kids between top 50% and top 5%. The thing that makes the top 5% really good is the number of kids they get 1, 2, 3 grades above the median, ie above the grade you're telling yourselves (and your students) they should aspire to.

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

I'm not sure if it's still available, but you used to be able to generate FFT data from within SIMS. Here is an excerpt from their brochure

"When it comes to raising standards, it’s important that you have accurate estimates of future student performance so you can set challenging targets for all your students.With SIMS FFT Estimates, secondary schools can generate their FFT student estimates within SIMS – with no need to import them from the FFT website. Our partnership with FFT brings a flexible approach to managing your student predictions in SIMS. It’s more accurate, there’s less chance of error from manual importing, and with the ability to make changes directly within SIMS, it’s easier for your staff to use. Plus, the new group filter allows you to only generate FFT Estimates for students taking each subject. And with everything all in one system and all your data in one place, you can ensure that everyone is on track."

[Banjo]

Doesn't work anymore :-(

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

pitty, it looked like it could be an interesting development

[Banjo]

We had a school that purchased it -They liked it, but there must have been falling out between Capita and FFT as the coefficients have not been updated to the new exam specs.

[Pollock]

Are there any simpler ways to do this nowadays?

 

Such a shame they removed the functionality between the two.

[atcoates]

This help https://fft.org.uk/adx/

[Pollock]

Ok, sadly I still haven't figured this out. I hope someone is generous enough to explain to me in slightly more detail what i'm meant to do here. Again, i'm a novice compared to all of you, having been drafted in last minute, so please forgive me.

 

Aspire FFT seems to provide a function for exporting their FT5 marks (which is what I wish to use as a "target").

 

This is seemingly done year by year, and subject by subject. The larger export function doesn't seem to provide the FT5 mark, nor any target data (presumably because I haven't gone through aspire and set them myself).

 

In any case, i'm looking for a way to assign the FT5 targets for every subject and ever pupil, but am unsure as to how the import data from spreadsheet function in SIMS fully operates, and how to organise this with respect to aspects and results sets etc.

 

Any help is massively welcomed.

 

Thank you for your time.

[Seb1780]

Ok, sadly I still haven't figured this out. I hope someone is generous enough to explain to me in slightly more detail what i'm meant to do here. Again, i'm a novice compared to all of you, having been drafted in last minute, so please forgive me.

 

Aspire FFT seems to provide a function for exporting their FT5 marks (which is what I wish to use as a "target").

 

This is seemingly done year by year, and subject by subject. The larger export function doesn't seem to provide the FT5 mark, nor any target data (presumably because I haven't gone through aspire and set them myself).

 

In any case, i'm looking for a way to assign the FT5 targets for every subject and ever pupil, but am unsure as to how the import data from spreadsheet function in SIMS fully operates, and how to organise this with respect to aspects and results sets etc.

 

Any help is massively welcomed.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

I've not done this for a while as we now use third party tools, but I do remember it was a royal PITA.

 

You firstly have to get your targets in a spreadsheet where the first few columns are used to identify the student then the remaining columns hold the target data for each subject - we had surname/forename/DoB/Gender/UPN then about 30 columns of targets, one per subject.

 

Then in SIMS Routines / Data In / Assessment / Import from Spreadsheet to select the CSV prepared earlier.

 

Once the data is displayed in the SIMS dialogue box you right-click on the top of each column and select what the data in the spreadsheet relates to in SIMS - for the first few columns it's OK, Surname / Forename / DoB etc are pre-selected. But then when you get to the columns where the target grades are you need to select "Result"; and this is where the fun starts.

 

You need to select the aspect the grade is going into, for example this might be "FFT5 Art Target". This aspect will have to be setup before you can import anything, and in order to set up an aspect you will need to know the Grade Set it uses (e.g. "GCSE Target Grades") and that Grade Set will need to have all possible Grades pre-defined (a pain if you're using +/- fine grades from FFT). Once you've defined the aspect you will need to categorise it so you can find it when doing the import - we categorised ours under CES Assessment Services / School Name / GCSE Targets.

 

With the aspects set up and the CSV open in the SIMS dialogue box, right click the top of a column and select "Result" then browse through the categories to find your aspect, click on it to highlight it then press "Update". This will now populate the top few rows of the column with the aspect name and the import date.

 

If you might have several versions of the same aspect over a period of time, for example a target may get reviewed each year so you want Y7, Y8, Y9 etc, then you will also need to assign the data to a "Result Set". Again, the Result Set needs to be configured before you start importing data.

 

Repeat for each of the 30 column, repeat for each of your 7 year groups and spend the best part of a week just updating targets!

 

The key to all this is getting the Aspects / Grade Sets / Result Sets configured. I suspect this has already been done but in your last minute draft situation you may not know how this is all put together and I suggest finding that out first.

 

HTH