Alps analysis of 2023 client benchmarks - KS5 BTEC England

Alps analysis of 2023 client benchmarks - KS5 BTEC England


2023 BTEC 2016 Results in England

Following the release of this years BTEC 2016 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 about national trends ?

  1. Single grade qualifications were awarded in line with 2019 at M & P but more generously at D & D*.
  1. Double grade qualifications were awarded in line with 2019 below DD but more generously at DD+.
  1. Triple grade qualifications were awarded in line with 2019 at DDD+ but were lower than in 2019 at grades below DDD.








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.  


The graphs below set out the Alps client figures. These are based on over 63000 students across 500 providers. All figures are for the 2016 BTECs. 

  





When we generated the Minimum Expected Points (MEP) for this cohort and compared it with those in 2019 the MEP was lower across the higher PA bands, but more varied towards the lower PA bands. The difference in target points was less marked than that of A levels.







 Using this information we have now generated Alps Schools BTEC 2016 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 either likely to remain the same or increase from the one generated from the 2019 benchmark set. However it must be stated that there will be many factors influencing this changes, including the distribution of learners across your prior attainment bands and your current Alps grade.


From our client benchmarks we see the following trend when we switch providers from the 2019 national to the 2023 client benchmark: 



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