2008 Black Country education barometer published

The Black Country Observatory has published the Black Country Education Barometer 2008 today.

The report indicates that Black Country schools are starting to close the gap with the national average GCSE performance.

There was a 6.6% increase in the percentage of Black Country pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs (compared to 4.2% nationally) and an 8% rise in pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths (compared to 2.6% nationally).

The Black Country must grow by 9.2% each year to reach the national average (in GCSE inc. Eng & Maths) by 2011.

For the first time Black Country schools are now ahead of the national average in Key Stage 2 Level 4 English performance.

The Black Country also grew faster than the national average in terms of Key Stage 2 (L4+) Maths performance (4.4% vs 1.3% nationally) but still remains 1.2 percentage points below the national average of 78%.

In Key Stage 2 schools in Dudley performed above the national average in English, Maths and Science in 2008. This was a result of:

• Consistent high quality support and training to the schools
• Whole school approaches
• Training
• Interlinked support of teams
• Coaching
• Personalisation grants – targeted intervention
• Higher level writing network

The report is available from the Black Country Reports section of the Black Country Observatory’s website. To access the report, you need to login or register if not already registered with them.

Thanks to Michael Salmon at the Black Country Observatory for sharing the information in this post.