What does Progress 8 aim to capture?

• A. The number of subjects passed
• B. The progress a pupil makes from end of primary to end of secondary
• C. The school's average grade in science
• D. The percentage of students with A grades.

Answer: (B)

Progress 8 is about the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. It looks at how well students improve across a broad set of eight subjects (including English and Maths) by comparing their actual attainment to the level expected for students with similar prior attainment. In short, it’s a measure of value added—how much learning happens during secondary school—rather than just what final grades or subject counts a student achieves. This distinguishes it from simply counting how many subjects were passed, or focusing on a single subject’s grade, or on the proportion of students with high grades overall.