A Level Results Previous League Tables

It is undeniable that examination results provide crucial data for judging the performance of schools. They are essential in appraising the achievements of privileged, private institutions, as well as those that are obtaining significant improvements with disadvantaged students. Exam results provide statistics that are used to create a variety of league tables, based either on the percentage of A*, A and B grades achieved by a school at A level or by the average grade achieved per examination. The former statistic arises from data collected by the ISC (the Independent Schools Council), which represents the great majority of private schools in the UK and collects information submitted voluntarily by schools. The latter statistic is calculated by the DfE (Department for Education) and is based on the results obtained directly from the exam boards and filtered to include only those students aged between 16 and 18.

League tables for A level are undoubtedly a useful resource for parents and students, and they provide a significant marketing tool for all schools, whether state or private. Who, after all, would not want to send their child to a school that enjoys a top ranking? Nonetheless, although this truth may appear to be self-evident, as with all statistics, league tables have to be interpreted with a certain degree of circumspection.

The first point to make is that schools often improve their results by rigorous, if not ruthless selection. There are probably few schools or colleges, whether comprehensive, grammar or private, that do not select students in some way or other. For highly sought-after private schools and grammar schools, this selection begins at entry for students aged between 11 and 13. The selection is based firstly on the results of admission tests (often the so-called Common Entrance Examination) and secondly, after shortlists are made from the test results, through individual interviews with each student.

Selection does not stop there, for if in the eyes of the school, a student underperforms at GCSE, they will not be permitted to move up to A level – to put it bluntly, they will be asked to leave. For state schools and colleges, underperforming GCSE students will be not be allowed to take up A levels but will be offered the choice of vocational qualifications such as NVQ or BTEC. Astonishingly, because the DfE league table is restricted to students between the ages of 16 and 18, a student who, for example, has to miss a year through illness, may not be allowed to return to the school because they would fall outside the 16 to 18 age range at the time of sitting their final A level exam. Outstanding schools can get away with such devices for improving their statistics, since it is easy for them to fill the vacancies that are created.

The data provided to the DfE may also be manipulated to improve a school’s performance. Underperforming students in their first year of A level may be asked to repeat the year or seek alternative academic accommodation. In the second year, if their performance is not up to snuff, they may simply not be allowed to sit the exams or they may be rusticated. This means that, although permitted to sit the exams at the school, they are registered as an ‘external’ candidate. In this way, the results of weaker students are prevented from showing up in the DfE statistics.

Finally, A level exams are now based on the results or four or more modules, which constitute the syllabus. To arrive at a final grade, the results for each module are processed and a final grade (A*, A, B etc) produced. This process is called ‘cashing in’. If it appears that any particular student’s results are going to pull the school’s average down, they may be excluded by instructing the exam board not to ‘cash in’ the grades.

The ‘grade inflation’ at A level that has occurred in recent years may be explained in part by this manipulation of results. Amusingly, this might remind one of Gresham’s Law in economics (‘bad currency drives out good currency’) in reverse; in the case of exam results it appears that good grades drive out bad grades.

As mentioned previously, the ISC (Independent Schools Council) produces a table of the exam results of all of its members. However, like the DfE table, this must be treated with a moderate degree of caution. The ISC relies on each of its members to submit results that are comprehensive, complete and accurate, but submission is not compulsory, and indeed some distinguished institutions (notably St Paul’s Boys School in London and King’s College Canterbury) decline.

It is probably safe to say that, except for the strongest schools, failure to appear in a league table is a sign of weakness rather than strength. Anyone scanning a league table might reasonably ask why a school was not present or, if the table is limited to, say, the top hundred schools, note that the school was not among the ‘best’. It would also be wrong to think that schools themselves do not place emphasis on exam results. Even schools that rightly stress the other merits of the education they provide, are quick to point out in their publicity that they achieve outstanding exam results in addition to all the other benefits gained by their students.

Conversely, no school would wish to embarrass itself with a poor showing in exams: schools compete for students, and exam results are an important factor in making a choice. It must be said, therefore, that those schools that take a pragmatic approach to the publication of exam results disadvantage others that behave completely honourably in this regard. To level the playing field in this arena would not be easy, but to avoid the attempt undermines an ideal of education, namely the pursuit of truth.

A* = 300 points, A = 270, etc
AS results are weighted 50% of A levels; eg A* = 150 points
Average points = Total points / number of exams taken
Table excludes candidates who were 19 or older at the beginning of the academic year, Sept 1 2011
Source, The Government Department for Education Performance Tables, January 2016

A* = 300 points, A = 270, etc
AS results are weighted 50% of A levels; eg A* = 150 points
Average points = Total points / number of exams taken
Table excludes candidates who were 19 or older at the beginning of the academic year, Sept 1 2011
Source, The Government Department for Education Performance Tables, February 2015

For the first time this year, the tables also show the number of students who gain good grades – at least two As and a B – in so-called “facilitating subjects”. These are subjects that are commonly seen as a route into leading Russell Group universities.

The measure reflects achievement in maths and further maths, English literature, physics, biology, chemistry, geography, history and modern and classical languages.

Examination results are essential in appraising the achievements of private institutions, as well as those obtaining significant improvements with disadvantaged students. A level league tables are a useful resource and they provide a significant marketing tool for all schools. There are few schools, whether comprehensive, grammar or private, that do not select students in some way or other. For private schools and grammar schools, this selection begins at entry for students aged between 11 and 13. For state schools, under-performing GCSE students will be not be allowed to take up A levels but will be offered the choice of vocational qualifications such as NVQ or BTEC. Ashbourne Independent Sixth Form College, one of the best colleges in London, offers two year A level, 18 month A level and a one-year intensive A Level course programme, providing a wide range of subject choices.

A* = 300 points, A = 270, etc
AS results are weighted 50% of A levels; eg A* = 150 points
Average points = Total points / number of exams taken
Table excludes candidates who were 19 or older at the beginning of the academic year, Sept 1 2011
Source, The Government Department for Education Performance Tables, February 2013

For the first time this year, the tables also show the number of students who gain good grades – at least two As and a B – in so-called “facilitating subjects”. These are subjects that are commonly seen as a route into leading Russell Group universities.

The measure reflects achievement in maths and further maths, English literature, physics, biology, chemistry, geography, history and modern and classical languages.

Examination results are essential in appraising the achievements of private institutions, as well as those obtaining significant improvements with disadvantaged students. A level league tables are a useful resource and they provide a significant marketing tool for all schools. There are few schools, whether comprehensive, grammar or private, that do not select students in some way or other. For private schools and grammar schools, this selection begins at entry for students aged between 11 and 13. For state schools, under-performing GCSE students will be not be allowed to take up A levels but will be offered the choice of vocational qualifications such as NVQ or BTEC. Ashbourne Independent Sixth Form College, one of the best colleges in London, offers two year A level, 18 month A level and a one-year intensive A Level course programme, providing a wide range of subject choices.

College	Points Per Candidate	Avg Points Per Exam	Percentage Achieving Academic A Levels
Bellerbys London	978.7	247.5	23%
Cambridge Tutors	929.3	250	26%
Ashbourne A Level College, London	824.2	239.1	21%
Ealing Independent	819.2	234.1	13%
Brampton College	816.1	251.5	29%
David Game	803.1	237.4	10%
Abbey College London	778.7	224.4	24%
Chelsea Independent	763.5	237.4	14%
MPW London	752.9	227	11%
Fine Arts	746.7	231.9	–
Duff Miller	746.7	231.9	14%
Collingham	683.2	220.8	4%
DLD	621	229.4	6%
Lansdowne College	596.3	214.9	3%
Cats College	542.8	222.7	–
Bales College	497.5	157.1	8%

A* = 300 points, A = 270, etc
AS results are weighted 50% of A levels; eg A* = 150 points
Average points = Total points / number of exams taken
Table excludes candidates who were 19 or older at the beginning of the academic year, Sept 1 2011
Source, The Government Department for Education Performance Tables, February 2013

For the first time this year, the tables also show the number of students who gain good grades – at least two As and a B – in so-called “facilitating subjects”. These are subjects that are commonly seen as a route into leading Russell Group universities.

The measure reflects achievement in maths and further maths, English literature, physics, biology, chemistry, geography, history and modern and classical languages.

Examination results are essential in appraising the achievements of private institutions, as well as those obtaining significant improvements with disadvantaged students. A level league tables are a useful resource and they provide a significant marketing tool for all schools. There are few schools, whether comprehensive, grammar or private, that do not select students in some way or other. For private schools and grammar schools, this selection begins at entry for students aged between 11 and 13. For state schools, under-performing GCSE students will be not be allowed to take up A levels but will be offered the choice of vocational qualifications such as NVQ or BTEC. Ashbourne Independent Sixth Form College, one of the best colleges in London, offers two year A level, 18 month A level and a one-year intensive A Level course programme, providing a wide range of subject choices.