Education Endowment Foundation:Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) comment: Disadvantaged pupils half as likely to get a good pass in GCSE English or maths compared to peers

Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) comment: Disadvantaged pupils half as likely to get a good pass in GCSE English or maths compared to peers

Author
EEF
EEF

Earlier today (Thursday 5 December), the Department for Education released the latest Key Stage 4 performance data, covering the last academic year (2023−24).

Press Release •1 minute •

The data showed:

  • In 2023/24 25.8% of disadvantaged pupils got a grade 5 (a good pass) in English and maths compared to 53.1% of their non disadvantaged peers. This gap has widened very slightly from 2022/23 (0.1%).

  • Progress 8 scores for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils showed that non-disadvantaged pupils averaged a Progress 8 score of 0.16 whereas disadvantaged pupils averaged a Progress 8 score of ‑0.57. This means non-disadvantaged pupils, on average, progressed more than expected when compared to pupils in their prior attainment group, whereas disadvantaged pupils achieved over half a grade less than expected by the end of KS4.

Reacting to this data, Chris Paterson, co-Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: