Performance Trend
Calculated
Human-readable performance trend description
Understanding Performance Trend
The Performance Trend indicates whether a school’s results are improving, stable, or declining over recent years. This helps identify schools on upward or downward trajectories.
What This Captures
Performance trend is typically calculated by comparing: - Progress 8 or Attainment 8 over multiple years - KS2 outcomes over time - Other key metrics year-on-year
Trend Categories
- Improving: Results getting better over consecutive years
- Stable: Results consistent year-on-year
- Declining: Results getting worse over consecutive years
Why Trends Matter
A snapshot of one year’s results doesn’t tell the whole story: - An improving school may be better than its current rating suggests - A declining school may be heading toward problems - A stable school offers predictable quality
Context for Interpretation
Consider trends alongside: - Leadership changes (new head = potential for change) - Intake changes (demographic shifts) - External factors (COVID disruption, local changes)
A declining trend in isolation warrants investigation, but may have explanations that don’t reflect teaching quality.
Technical Details
- Column Name
- performance_trend
- Data Source
- Calculated
Coverage by School Phase
How many schools have data available for this field.
This field does not contribute to the performance score calculation.
Value Distribution by School Phase
Distribution of categorical values across schools.