This report presents findings from two studies on Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level trends in 2018. The first part of the report describes national trends in AS level entries from analyses of data published by Ofqual. This updates the previous quantitative analysis of AS level trends in 2017 (Vitello & Williamson, 2018). The rest of the report…

This report presents findings from an ongoing research project monitoring the impact of the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced (A) level reforms in England that came into effect from September 2015. Three studies were conducted in the spring of 2017, during the second year of teaching of decoupled AS and A levels. The first study analysed…

This report is an updated version of an analysis undertaken last year (Gill, 2017) which looked at the impact of the introduction of new accountability measures (Attainment 8 and Progress 8) on the qualifications and subjects taken by students at the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4). It adds in data from the 2016/17 academic year, which was the second…

Researchers investigating progression to higher education (HE) have suggested that student and school characteristics (e.g., gender, prior academic attainment, social background, type of school) are important factors affecting HE participation and the type of HE institution attended (Chowdry et al., 2013; Boliver, 2013; Vidal Rodeiro, Sutch, &…

The recent introduction of new accountability measures in English schools, such as Progress 8, may have had an impact on the qualifications and subjects taken by students and offered by schools in England. The main headline measure by which schools are judged has been changed from the proportion of students achieving 5 or more GCSE grades A* to C…