11 plus article in the Times today

[scary mum]

Touches on 11 plus tourism, plus a bit of lazy journalism stating that the CEM test is "a so called tutor proof test".
http://thetimes.co.uk/article/cd685ece- ... 4b9a1a67a3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry to those who don't have a Times subscription. The story is that the new grammar school plans will increase 11 plus tourism. It mentions HBS & the Sutton schools, explaining that they now have to have a first round to get numbers down.

There is also an article about these so called tutor proof tests creating panic amongst parents leading to more tutoring!
http://thetimes.co.uk/article/e79c35ae- ... 4b9a1a67a3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This one contains the old chestnut that in Bucks a higher percentage of children from private school pass than from state schools. Well, yes, all state school children sit the test unless they are withdrawn, those at private schools sit it if they think they will pass.

None of these are new stories but interesting that they are in the papers as we near an area of new grammar schools.

[thisisnuts]

I thought the bigger story was in the headline:

"Established grammar schools must offer lower pass marks to poorer pupils".

So all existing Grammars, not just the new ones being proposed.

Of course, at the moment this is just a newspaper story!

[booellesmum]

Most of the super selectives in Birmingham already have a lower pass mark for pupil premium candidates - and it seems to be working quite well.

[um]

Yes, all Birmingham grammars except for Sutton Coldfield Girls and Handsworth Grammar (Boys) now have a 20% allocation (25% allocation for KEVI Aston) for Pupil Premium children.

This allows them to gain entrance to the grammars on lower scores than non-pupil premium children.

Handsworth Grammar already have 20%+ Pupil Premium, hence why it isn't a part of their admission policy.

This has been in place for a few years - the first cohort to come through in this manner are now Year 8.

It's had a huge impact on the % of PP children - some schools such as KEFW and KECHB had barely 2% PP before.

[quasimodo]

I thought the bigger story was in the headline:

"Established grammar schools must offer lower pass marks to poorer pupils".

So all existing Grammars, not just the new ones being proposed.

Of course, at the moment this is just a newspaper story!

I think it was just a story.The Department of Education denied it would apply to existing grammars.Clearly it will apply to new grammars and is under active consideration.

The story made little political sense as it would be upsetting many conservative supporters were it to apply to existing grammars who don't have such a policy at present.

It will be interesting to see what impact if any, it has on the results of the king Edward Birmingham schools who now operate the pupil premium policies once those cohorts start taking their GCSE's and A levels.The first ones taking their GCSE's will be in 2020.The schools with all the data they have on their pupils these days have 5 years of extra resources and targeting to reduce any differences where they exist.

[FAC51]

There is also an article about these so called tutor proof tests creating panic amongst parents leading to more tutoring!
http://thetimes.co.uk/article/e79c35ae- ... 4b9a1a67a3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This one contains the old chestnut that in Bucks a higher percentage of children from private school pass than from state schools. Well, yes, all state school children sit the test unless they are withdrawn, those at private schools sit it if they think they will pass.

Do we know what happened to the relative pass rates following the introduction of CEM?

[scary mum]

There is also an article about these so called tutor proof tests creating panic amongst parents leading to more tutoring!
http://thetimes.co.uk/article/e79c35ae- ... 4b9a1a67a3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This one contains the old chestnut that in Bucks a higher percentage of children from private school pass than from state schools. Well, yes, all state school children sit the test unless they are withdrawn, those at private schools sit it if they think they will pass.

Do we know what happened to the relative pass rates following the introduction of CEM?

Not offhand, although I'm sure the information is out there somewhere, but the point I'm making is that it's not really relevant unless 100% of children from the private schools sit the exam. Some grammar schools may well have a higher percentage of ex private school children in them than you might expect but I'm sure that will vary by location (I'm willing to bet BGS doesn't, for example.

[Sally-Anne]

Do we know what happened to the relative pass rates following the introduction of CEM?

My instinct is that, at least in Bucks, the pass rate for private school entrants went down. I recently looked at the pass rates for a few prep schools in Chiltern/South Bucks for another thread and they were all down on the figures I was seeing pre-CEM: in the range of 40 - 50%, instead of 60%+ under the old GL test.

I was surprised by that, because I had expected the opposite to happen. However, there are a lot of other factors that have come into play, mainly 11+ tourism and the volume of out-county testers, so I don't think it would be easy to establish absolute facts.

[Amber]

My instinct is, at least in Bucks, the pass rate for private school entrants went down.

A similar attempt was made in Buckinghamshire, where a new 11-plus was introduced in 2013 (for the cohort entering secondary school in 2014); this was likewise intended to be more resilient to the impact of coaching than was its predecessor. In contrast to all other local authorities, enrolment for the 11-plus in Buckinghamshire occurs on an opt-out basis, and therefore the majority of pupils sit the test in this local authority. The element of self-selection is therefore largely removed. Even so, analysis indicates that with the introduction of the new test, the pass rate for pupils from state schools in fact dropped from 23 per cent for the 2013 entry cohort to 20 per cent for the 2014 entry cohort. Despite small increases in some years since, the pass rate has not yet regained the level that it was in the final year before the new test was introduced: recently released data shows that it stands at 21 per cent for the 2017 entry cohort. At the same time, the pass rate for privately educated pupils has increased from 53 per cent for the 2014 entry cohort to 63 per cent in the 2017 entry cohort.

https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2 ... alysis.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Education Policy Institute Paper: The Eleven Plus and Access to Grammar Schools, 2016

[Sally-Anne]

At the same time, the pass rate for privately educated pupils has increased from 53 per cent for the 2014 entry cohort to 63 per cent in the 2017 entry cohort.

https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2 ... alysis.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Education Policy Institute Paper: The Eleven Plus and Access to Grammar Schools, 2016

IIRC, the raw data behind that quote was corrupt because the authors of the paper didn't understand the difference between Partner Schools in- and out-of-county; quite a few of the out-county cohort are from state schools.

Whether that makes a fundamental difference, I can't say without grinding through all the numbers, but there is no doubt that the pass rate among the schools I mentioned elsewhere has decreased of late. I can say categorically that one school with quite a large cohort has definitely dropped from the region of 50+% on the GL test to only 29% on CEM.