Glossary

A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  M  |  N  |  O  | 
P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W  |  X  |  Y  |  Z

A

ACEO
Association of Chief Education Officers

APS
This relates to the Average Point Score achieved at Key Stage 4.

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B

Baseline Assessment
An assessment of a child's skills and abilities usually made by a teacher in the first weeks of starting school to help them plan lessons and measure progress. Areas covered include language, reading, maths and social skills.  

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C

Confed
The Confederation of Education Service Managers 

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D

DCSF
Department for Children, Schools and Families

DfES School and College Attainment and Achievement Tables
Formerly the performance tables, they provide information on pupil achievement at the varying key stages. Full details are at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables.

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E

EAL
English as an Additional Language

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F

Fischer Family Trust
This is an independent, non profit organisation which is mainly involved in undertaking and supporting projects (e.g. pupil performance data) addressing the development of education in the UK.   

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I

Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
Setting specific targets for children. 

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K

Key Stage

A description and measurement of pupils' progress through school:
- Key Stage 1: pupils aged 5 to 7
- Key Stage 2: pupils aged 7 to 11
- Key Stage 3: pupils aged 11 to 14
- Key Stage 4: pupils aged 14 to 16

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L

LGA
Local Government Association

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N

NCSL
National College of School Leadership 

NFER
National Foundation for Educational Research

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O

Ofsted
An Government Department that works with the DfES to monitor all schools. 

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P

PANDAs
Performance AND Assessments of schools are published by Ofsted.

Public Service Agreement (PSA)

A plan setting out what a department will deliver in the form of measurable targets over the public expenditure review period.

Pupil Achievement Tracker
This is DfES software which allows schools and LEAs to import and analyse their own pupil performance data against national performance data published in the Autumn Package. Follow this link for more details.

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Q

QCA
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

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S

SENCO
Special Needs Co-ordinator

SMT
Senior Management Team

SEN
Special Educational Needs

Special Measures
The term applied following an Ofsted inspection when a school is deemed by HMCI to be failing to provide an acceptable standard of education for its pupils

Standards Fund
This is the mechanism for distributing grants provided to LEAs and schools.

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T

TEN
The Educational Network (TEN) is an independent body set up to support LEAs in their work of raising education standards. Full details are available on their website at www.ten.info.

Trajectory
Plotting a realistic path towards achieving a target over a period of years.

Transition Matrices
Part of the Pupil Achievement Tracker, they show national progress in the most recent key stage tests. Full details are available at http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/performance/.

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V

Value Added

The progress that schools help individuals to make relative to their different starting points is usually referred to as value added. Value added measures are intended to allow comparisons between schools with different pupil intakes.

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