This all assumes that the attainment of pupils who would benefit from fairer admissions would be higher as a result of attending a higher-performing school. This is a causal question and the answer is by no means certain.
Finally, it is worth saying that, in principle, the china rcs data between-school could be negative. This would arise if disadvantaged pupils were disproportionately allocated to schools with higher than average scores for disadvantaged pupils. We will see this more in the second part of this article.
Now read part two
Notes
Eligible for free school meals (FSM) in the last 6 years, although due to changes in FSM eligibility this is now eligible in the last 7 years.
Actually it is 10 since English and maths are double-weighted.
As there are 10 slots in Attainment 8 (see footnote above).
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Pupil demographics
Attainment 8disadvantage gapdisadvantaged pupilskey stage 4Progress 8secondary schools
About the Author: Dave Thomson
Dave Thomson is chief statistician at FFT with over fifteen years’ experience working with educational attainment data to raise attainment in local government, higher education and the commercial sector. His current research interests include linking education and workplace datasets to improve estimates of adult attainment and study the impact of education on employment and benefits outcomes.