Pupil progress between 11 and 16 years old (‘Progress 8’)
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- out of all ethnic groups, pupils from the Chinese ethnic group made the most progress between 11 and 16 years old – their ‘Progress 8’ score was 1.08
- pupils from the Indian ethnic group (0.82) had the next highest score
- pupils from the traveller of Irish heritage (-1.07) and white Gypsy or Roma (-0.89) ethnic groups had the lowest scores
- progress made by white British (-0.18), black Caribbean (-0.24), mixed white and black Caribbean (-0.46), and mixed white and black African (-0.02) pupils was lower than average
- among black pupils, those in the black African group made the most progress (0.37)
- in every ethnic group, girls made more progress than boys
- in every ethnic group, pupils eligible for free school meals made less progress than pupils who were not eligible
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures pupil progress at school between the ages of 11 and 16 years.
‘Progress 8’ is a way of measuring the progress that pupils make from the end of key stage 2 (the last year of primary school) to the end of key stage 4 (when they take GCSEs).
The higher a pupil’s ‘Progress 8’ score, the more progress they have made in comparison with pupils who started at a similar level. A score above 0 means pupils in an ethnic group are doing better than average. A score below 0 means they are doing less well than average.
Progress 8 scores are rounded to 2 decimal places.
Not included in the data
The data only includes pupils who are entered for Progress 8. Not all pupils are entered, so the number might not be the same as the total of pupils at the end of key stage 4.
Data for local authorities with only one school is not included.
Progress 8 scores are not published for independent schools.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census, with 1 exception:
- there are separate categories for traveller of Irish heritage, and white Gypsy or Roma pupils
Ethnicity was known for 98.0% of pupils.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
Figures for the traveller of Irish heritage ethnic group are based on a small number of pupils – 177 pupils in the 2022 to 2023 school year. They are less reliable as a result.
In the data file
Download the data for data by:
- sex
- free school meal status
- special education needs (SEN) status
- type of school
- type of selection
- religion of school
- local authority area
The download file also includes confidence intervals for each ethnic group. Find out more about how we use confidence intervals to determine how reliable estimates are.
Some figures do not add up to the total for all pupils when separated by certain factors – for example, religion of school or SEN.
Pupils with unknown SEN provision have been included in the SEN total but do not have their own breakdown.
Further education colleges with courses for 14 to 16 year olds are included in the total for all state-funded schools but not in the breakdowns.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | score | number of pupils |
|---|---|---|
| All | -0.03 | 568,530 |
| Asian | 0.53 | 64,446 |
| Bangladeshi | 0.50 | 10,198 |
| Chinese | 1.08 | 2,133 |
| Indian | 0.82 | 16,857 |
| Pakistani | 0.24 | 24,982 |
| Asian other | 0.69 | 10,276 |
| Black | 0.22 | 32,970 |
| Black African | 0.37 | 22,340 |
| Black Caribbean | -0.24 | 6,376 |
| Black other | 0.09 | 4,254 |
| Mixed | -0.04 | 33,926 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 0.18 | 8,155 |
| Mixed White and Black African | -0.02 | 4,657 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | -0.46 | 8,979 |
| Mixed other | 0.11 | 12,135 |
| White | -0.14 | 417,088 |
| White British | -0.18 | 383,217 |
| Gypsy or Roma | -0.89 | 1,121 |
| White Irish | 0.07 | 1,544 |
| Irish traveller | -1.07 | 177 |
| White other | 0.46 | 31,029 |
| Other | 0.53 | 9,886 |
| Unknown | -0.28 | 10,214 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
4. Data sources
Source
Key stage 4 performance: 2022 to 2023 school year
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Education
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The main purpose is to measure the progress pupils make from the end of key stage 2 (KS2) to the end of KS4 (GCSE).
5. Download the data
measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, year, geography, geography_type, gender, age, free school meal (fsm), sen_type, sen_grouping, admission_type, establishment_type, school characteristics, religious denomination, value, denominator, numerator, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound).
measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, year, geography, geography_type, geography_code, gender, age, value, denominator, numerator, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound)