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Summary

A nationwide analysis of state schools in England using assessments provided by RS Assessment from Hodder Education.

Key findings of this paper include:

• The effects of gender differ considerably by subject. In grammar, punctuation and spelling (GAPS tests) girls, on average, perform better than boys at the start of primary school and maintain this advantage all the way to age 11. A similar pattern applies to reading (PiRA tests). In maths (PUMA tests), girls and boys initially show very similar performance, but by age 6-7 boys overtake girls and stay ahead until the end of primary school.
• Within each subject, there are often gender differences by topic. These are less evident in reading, where girls consistently outperform boys in all areas (comprehension, inference and LSP, or Language, Structure and Presentation). But in grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS), gender differences tend to decline with age for grammar, spelling and vocabulary while increasing for punctuation. In maths, gender differences at the end of primary school are relatively high for number and measures, smaller for fractions and statistics, and virtually absent for operations and geometry.
• Having analysed the relative performance of summer-born pupils in reading and maths in our last white paper, we look here at GPS performance. Consistent with other subjects, this is lower for summer-born children and although the gap narrows as pupils get older, it persists until at least the end of primary school. These effects are broadly similar for all topics (grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary).
• We also examine whether these gender and age gaps vary by type of school. The results indicate that differences tend to be linked to pupil cohorts rather than schools. This suggests that no particular groups of schools are more effective than any others in reducing the effects on attainment of pupil gender or season of birth.

Introduction

As in our previous study, we have analysed aggregate anonymous data from MARK (My Assessment and Reporting Kit), a free online marksheet and reporting service for customers of the:

• Progress in Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Assessment (GAPS)
• Progress in Reading Assessment (PiRA)
• Progress in Understanding Mathematics Assessment (PUMA) primary tests.

This paper updates and extends our 2018 analysis. Unlike the DfE’s statutory tests, which are currently used to assess each child twice (in Years 2 and 6), these assessments are typically sat every term, providing more detailed information about children’s progress during their primary years. This paper provides a high-level analysis of over three million termly standardised test results produced between October 2015 and July 2019.

For further information about the kinds of schools included and an explanation of the test scoring system, please refer to the Appendix.

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