 |
 |
LEAGUE TABLES RSS Reading Local Group Meeting 4pm Wednesday 20 October (Refreshments from 6pm) Nike Lecture Theatre Department of Agriculture University of Reading Speakers: EMMA SCOTT & BEN STYLES (National Foundation for Educational Research) Out of your league: the use and abuse of school league tables The method used by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for producing school performance tables is presented and problems highlighted. The use of value-added measures and threshold indicators are discussed alongside possible difficulties with their interpretation. Alternative methods that account for pupil and school background are proposed. ROBERT IRONS (Healthcare Commission) Tackling over-dispersion in NHS performance indicators Star ratings for English NHS trusts are based on indicators transformed to a scale from 1 to 5. An adjusted transformation developed from meta-analysis techniques accounts for over-dispersion and reduces the proportion of trusts in the extreme bands. A random-effects model is used to calculate standardised scores for each trust. Directions are available at http://www.rdg.ac.uk/RSSlocal/