Provisional KS4 APS for KS5 Progress Measures (Current Y12 2023/24)
Information correct as at 2nd October 2023
This guide applies to Year 12 in the 2023/24 academic year. If you wish to import KS4 APS figures for use with the Value Added performance measure, you can use this guide to generate provisional KS4 APS data until the official data becomes available through GIAP (expected November 2023).
If you need to import KS4 APS for current Year 13 in the 2023/24 academic year or older cohorts, please refer to this article instead: https://help.4matrix.com/knowledgebase.php?article=224
Importing KS4 APS: Understanding What’s Required
In 4Matrix, the KS4 APS figure reported in Year 11 series (and any other GCSE series) is based on and designed for KS4 Performance Indicators. It is not necessarily the same figure that will be used when setting the KS4 APS as the baseline for KS5 progress measures, not least because 2 separate figures are required, but because of the way the APS figures are calculated for this purpose.
Caveats in obtaining the APS figures from 4Matrix
It is possible to use the KS4 APS figures reported in the 4Matrix Pupil Tracking tool. These figures remain provisional until the information is officially published through GIAP.
Please be aware of the following information which affects early entries:
1. 4Matrix will use the qualification status setting for the active year i.e. for 2022/23 Y11, the 2023 calculation engine is applied and all qualifications for this cohort are handled in accordance with 2023 qualification statuses as issued by the DfE. Therefore, changes may be temporarily required in the 4Matrix > Edit Qualifications tool to force early entry grades to count in qualifications which are no longer approved.
2. 4Matrix series will, by default, be based on First Entry and not Best Entry - the former is used for KS4 Performance Indicators, and the latter is used for the two APS figures for KS5 Progress Measures. Therefore, changes will be temporarily required to the Edit Series > Calculations > Discounting settings.
4Matrix users can still proceed and generate a GCSE Only APS and ALL APS score with the caveat that these figures are provisional until the information is officially published through GIAP.
Steps to obtain the APS from 4Matrix
Please only use this guide if your cohort does not have early entries. If your cohort has early entries, please contact 4Matrix for further guidance unless you are confident in applying the early entries logic as explained in the section above.
OBTAINING KS4 GCSE ONLY APS and KS4 GCSE ALL APS
1. Duplicate your Y11 Actual Results Series:
2. Go to Admin > Edit Series
3. Highlight the Year 11 Actual Results series
4. Click on Action and Duplicate
5. For the series name enter, Year 11 Actual Results – GCSE only
6. Select Admin > Edit Subjects
7. In the bottom left, change into/open your duplicated results series
8. Select each non-GCSE subject in the list on the left and select Delete in the top right. This will only remove the subject and grades from the active series. A message will appear stating that the results from only the current series will be deleted.
9. Open the Pupil Tracking tool.
10. Select More Columns and select the UPN column.
11. Use the checkbox to select both Results series - Actual Results and Actual Results - GCSE only. Click on Apply.
12. Ensure APS is selected under Series Option (top left)
13. Go to File > Export to Excel and save as KS4 APS
PART 2 – IMPORT THE DATA INTO 4MATRIX
The spreadsheet includes Forename, Surname, Gender, UPN and 2 columns for KS4APS for Actual Results and KS4APS for Actual Results - GCSE only
The spreadsheet can then be imported via the Admin > Spreadsheet > Pupils/Results route. Make sure you choose to add it to the cohort’s Y11 series (NOT Y12 – as you are importing all students for the cohort, not just those that have continued into key stage 5).
In Step 3, Map Data, set the Column Type for the APS columns to Markbook Result and type KS4 into the search box. Two options will become available: KS4 APS and KS4 APS GCSE. Select the correct option for each column and continue the import.
External students joining Year 12
You will have to calculate the KS4 APS figures manually for any external students joining Year 12. This could be done by referencing exam results certificates or an export from your MIS into Excel, replacing grades with points values where necessary.
Working with Value Added for this cohort
The KS5 Value Added tool in 4Matrix is based on data from the DfE’s Ready Reckoner. The latest VA coefficients in 4Matrix are the validated 2019 versions, published by the DFE in February 2020.
While it is not possible to predict or accurately calculate your Value Added score in advance, our VA tools can be used to explore and fully understand the parameters governing Value Added, and to model the effect of future changes, provided schools remain aware of the caveats.
When working with Year 12 in the 2023/24 academic year, some 4Matrix users may find that they have estimates in the Value Added tool flagged with a yellow warning triangle. This means that the prior attainment (KS4 APS) falls outside the 2019 Ready Reckoner estimation model and therefore the highest (or lowest) estimate available is applied.
The Value Added estimates will not change until there is a new set of national data from actual results. The DfE have indicated that Value Added will return for 2024, but the VA coefficients from this data are unlikely to be available until mid-Autumn 2024. This means that the 2019 estimates will continue to be used for current cohorts in 4Matrix until further notice.
Article revised: 02/10/2023