Alps analysis of 2023 client benchmarks - KS5 A level England

Alps analysis of 2023 client benchmarks - KS5 A level England


2023 A Level Results in England

Following the release of this years A-level examination results we have analysed the data released by  the Joint Council of Qualifications and Ofqual alongside the data uploaded to Alps by our schools to help provide you with the key information that we think will be useful at this stage.

What do we know so far?

As expected the overall A-level results for students in England has returned to a profile that is broadly in line with those results achieved in 2019. Results for the percentage of students achieving A%-A and A*-B are slightly above the 2019 figures whilst the outcomes for %A*-D and A*-E are slightly below the 2019 equivalents.



At a subject level results follow a similar pattern with outcomes returning towards those awarded in 2019. Analysis of A*grades below indicates that for some subject e.g. Music this meant there was a substantive drop compared to 2022. It is also worth noting that outcomes in some subjects in 2023 are much closer to those awarded in 2019 compared to others e.g. Physics.


 

MEPs and Client Benchmarks

On the basis that we were anticipating a return to a 2019 outcome profile and we knew that the Yr 13 cohort had a higher prior attainment profile than those students in 2019 DfE benchmark set we communicated to colleagues in schools during last academic year that we would be generating a Alps school benchmark to support analysis of exam results this summer.

Analysis of Alps schools cohort data submitted to Alps indicates that in line with the uplift in the GCSE results awarded via TAGs in 2020 the prior attainment of learners in the Year 13 cohort this year is higher than that in 2019. The increase in PA is matched by a shift in PA profile across the Alps PA bands compared with the 2019 DfE data set.  From the graph it is worth noting that there is a much higher shift in the proportion of students in the top two PA bands.



As expected when we generated the Minimum Expected Points (MEP) for this cohort and compared it with those in 2019 the MEP was lower across the large majority of PA bands with the exception of the bottom 3.


 Using this information we have now generated Alps Schools A-level benchmarks sets which you can access by the ‘Analysis Settings’ button in your Admin section. Further information on how to change your benchmark comparison set can be accessed in our article https://support.alps.education/portal/en/kb/articles/using-the-2023-client-benchmarks-in-connect-june-2023. 

On the basis of the information above it is reasonable to anticipate that your Alps grade from this benchmark set is likely to be different to the one generated from the 2019 benchmark set and in many instances it is likely to be higher but the degree of any changes will be affected by a number of factors including the distribution of learners across your prior attainment bands and your current Alps grade.


Year 13 2023/24 - which benchmark should I use to set MEGs and track progress? 

We advise that you seriously consider using the 2019 national benchmarks to track Year 13 across 2023/24. We will generate a new client benchmark in the days following the 2024 examination results, and we would expect that you may see your overall grades improve slightly. We would consider that this may be a more palatable situation than using the 2023 client benchmark and having Alps grades drop if analysed against the 2024 client benchmark. 

For more information on how we have reached this recommendation, please read our article: https://support.alps.education/portal/en/kb/articles/implications-for-switching-your-benchmark-ks5-england