CaterinaAnna

Has anyone experience of this? In particular, anything that would make installation/running difficult?

Thanks Oaktech I'm also trying to get a feel for what systems people actually use. Materials from the RGS are based on Google and ArcGIS but I know the licensing cost of the latter would have beyond the departmental budget in my last place.

Quick question: What GIS software do you use? (KS2-5) Supplementary: What the advantages/limitations of your package? I've not taught geography for a long time, so my experience goes back to Google Earth when it took forever to load on a machine or two at parents' evening and you wouldn't even think about trying to get 30 kids at once to use it. As part of getting back up to speed, I'd like to have a play with something more up to date but would rather do so on a system that is used fairly widely. I'm not school-based at the moment so I've not got a particular system to hand and it's difficult to compare options when I've not got any 'how they work in real life' data. Thanks all

Did the people who did iGCSE English Language do Lit as well? If not, is there something else they might be using as the English grade, saying the Lang sans Lit doesn't count? I had the opposite issue. We had everyone doing a full counts by itself English course, and some did Lit on top of it. Even in September, when I did the checks on the unvalidated data, they were counting the Lit grade if it was better - expect it now, but didn't then.

I've asked my LA Data team if they can produce a mock-up based on last year's results. Not heard back yet, but then I asked within a couple of days of the technical guidance being published, so the chap I spoke to hadn't read it by that point and asked me to send him my spreadsheet! (See other thread about this in this group) Time to nudge, methinks.

Thank you - good to know!

Does the APS on Key to Success NCA tools not include Science as well? If it doesn't then that makes life easy - and an awful lot more reliable. BKGarry, fine grade is just Points/6 (if you're working whole levels you need to remember the +/- 3 (depending which way you're going) to get to mid-level). As for baseline for P8, using our own results from previous years - even several aggregated - has problems not just because of the unrepresentative sample, but because historically absolutely everyone has multiple empty slots which would make the expectations too low. I've therefore fudged it by converting FFT CPS to an APS, translating to new points, plotting against the KS2EnMa mean fine level and using that relationship to get values for 'expected' A8 for each student. That, of course, has the opposite problem because it assumes no-one has empty slots and that points scores don't dip across the country as old BTECs and so on are phased out, but at least the data set is a proper size. Still too many assumptions and get-rounds for me to be really happy with it though, so still open to suggestions of better ways.

Thanks for the link NormalDistribution, and the breakdown BKGarry. I'm in Excel, and have more or less got the same thing set up. I'm using fine grades from FFT, although some amendments are needed at the bottom end (they over-weight the TA when test = B or N) and additions for those who arrive late (I work their fine levels out from the grade boundaries - had to fudge an overall English for current Year 7).

New BTECs also have a Level 1 Pass which shows as an awkward 25 points on the current scoring system (or 50 for whatever they're calling the 'double' these days - First Certificate?).

Good luck!

Just posted this link in the Jobs forum, but thought I'd let the experts know about it too ... Data Manager - Coventry

Full time, all year round, closing date Feb 10th. Details on www.wmjobs.co.uk ref OP/035/14

UDFs are pretty visible too. As ever, it's a question of thinking carefully about access, permissions and distribution.

We use several UDFs but I've not found a way to update them bar going into Student Details for each individual. That's a pain, so we tend to keep it for things which don't change often. Neither, as far as I am aware, is there an audit trail or a way of accessing history. In fact, running a report with effective date changed picks up current values, which suggests changes lead to overwrites rather than updates. So, chrisateen's suggestion seems reasonable.

Steven, our Head would love you ...

3 subjects in the time of 2? That's something I've seen done.

Comments even more interesting ...

Certainly possible, as your example shows, and results like this are plotted in the transition matrices. The tables only contain percentages making expected and more than expected progress, not any sort of average progress measure for a cohort, so, if forecasting what's going to be published is what matters, the point is moot. We do calculate the figures for everyone, not just count, so we can look at average progress of various groups for internal monitoring and analysis. That means that sometimes (not too often, thank goodness!) there is the odd negative figure next to an individual's name.

Hurrah! Glad you're still here and smiling. Hope the same is true for the school.

Or more likely haven't got the time. If you're checking homework, your record will be in your 'markbook' (whatever form that takes), so putting the date completed in the homework section of SIMS at the very least involves switching between windows. And if you're dealing with paper-based homework and markbooks on the kitchen table at home with no or flaky remote access to SIMS...

Mine wasn't there either, so - to cut a long story short - I gave up and went home. However, just tried again and it's OK now: uploaded, queries annotated and submitted.

Seconded. Earth calling ICTLady - you OK?

Yep. I agree: best of what they have before September 2013, compared to first one afterwards. We have someone like this: Nov 2012 – Grade D Mar 2013 – Grade D Jun 2013 – Grade C Nov 2013 - Grade D Jun 2014 – predicted Grade B The C will count in performance tables, but the student's being re-re-entered because they want a B to go on and do AS and, since they actually got a higher mark (something like 14% selon Head of Maths) in November than June it's been approved.

I still have one that I can't find ... Apart from age, under what other circumstances is a missing ULN legitimate?

All of the above. To be fair, the only times I've actually been interviewed have been when the appropriate member of staff has been unavailable (eg Head of Post 16 long-term absent and person acting in the post had not had sufficient time to get themselves up to speed) - seems that, unlike DataMan's, the inspectors we've had have trusted what the senior/middle leaders have told them. Mind you, that could be because much of the in advance bit is making sure that all levels of management know which of the things they want to say have data to back them, where to find those analyses, and that they're up to date. Not usually a problem unless it's just after or just before a data collection week. It was a much bigger job when there was more notice, because it was accepted that there was time to produce new stuff. There's still quite a bit of producing tables /charts that show the messages that are likely to be key, but it tends to be middle leaders who spend less time with the data that need most support in the run up. Once they've arrived, it's being on standby to answer unexpected questions about a group of pupils or subjects they've decided need to be looked at more carefully. Usually odd, sometimes interesting, but seldom a problem if your systems are flexible enough. Only real issue I've had has been clawing back the extra hours I've worked ...