§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what representations he has received with regard to the introduction of value added tables; and what plans he has to introduce value added tables. [158848]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 26 April 2001]: We have received a number of representations about the use of value added measures in school performance tables. Their introduction is supported in principle by the head teacher associations and overwhelmingly by those who have responded to past consultation exercises.
We are committed to supplementing the information already published in school performance tables with value added measures showing how far schools help their pupils to progress between the stages of their education. We will do this as soon as we have the necessary information about individual pupil performance and have tested successfully the processes involved.
We intend to run a pilot this year on the calculation and presentation of value added measures from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and from Key Stage 3 to GCSE/GNVQ and to publish those measures for all schools in the secondary tables in 2002. We will then publish a value added measure for primary schools in 2003 after piloting in 2002. Following the introduction of "Qualifying for Success" reforms, introduction of value added in the 16–18 tables will necessarily have to wait at least until the first full set of results under the new framework has been awarded.