Item 12 - Literacy and Numeracy - Benchmarking
West Dunbartonshire Council · 28 September 2022
Back to Educational Services Committee — 28 September 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: 28 September 2022 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Literacy and Numeracy - Benchmarking 1. Purpose 1.1 This report advises the Educational Services Committee on the attainment progress and performance of the Strategy to Raise Attainment and Achievement in West Dunbartonshire at Early Years, P1, P4, P7 and S3 in academic session 2021/2022 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee reviews the performance analysis and notes progress made in academic session 2021/22 to raise attainment and tackle the poverty related attainment gap. 3. Background 3.1 Information contained in this report is based on Educational Service’s analysis of West Dunbartonshire’s Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) in literacy and numeracy at P1, P4, P7 and S3 in academic session 2021/2022 compared to 2020/2021; and West Dunbartonshire’s Early Years’ Literacy and Numeracy Attainment Baseline. 3.2 Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels are collected by Scottish Government in June each year as an aspect of the National Improvement Framework Reporting and Monitoring programme. At December 2022 Scottish Government will publish a national ACEL statistical report on attainment across all local authorities in academic session 2021/22. The ACEL attainment presented in this report data is draft until ratified by Scottish Government in the report being published in December 2022. 3.3 Attainment data for children in Early Learning and Childcare Centres’ and in P1 is collected annually by West Dunbartonshire using locally developed literacy and numeracy baseline assessments. The early level baseline assessment is benchmarked across the authority to highlight performance levels. This was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic. 3.4 In session 2020 Scottish Government suspended the ACEL collection due to the pandemic. In 2021 the ACEL collection resumed at P1,P4, P7 ; and was suspended at S3 due to concerns raised regarding pressures secondary schools were facing with the new Alternative Model of Certification ITEM 12
Page 2
arrangements. Therefore, June 2022 is the first time in three years that attainment in literacy and numeracy attainment at S3 has been gathered locally and nationally. 3.5 A report will be presented to Education Committee in March 2023 following the publication of the national statistical analysis of attainment at P1,P4, P7 and S3 in December 2022. 3.6 On 14 December 2021 Scottish Government published data on literacy and numeracy levels which confirmed a decrease in attainment in Scotland and a widening of the attainment gap between pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland had widened. This negative impact is attributed to the disruption caused by the pandemic. The results analysis for West Dunbartonshire mirrored the national data in session 2020/21. 3.7 An Education Improvement and Attainment Action Plan ( Appendix 1) implemented in academic session 2021/22 successfully delivered improvements in the attainment for pupils in both ELC and primary; with a slight dip in attainment evident in the attainment levels at S3. This action plan is being extended into sessions 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 with the aim of providing enhanced and targeted interventions; before and after school learning provision for those requiring support; providing additional teaching resource to support literacy and numeracy attainment; and provide supported study. Schools identify those requiring bespoke targeted recovery support through a forensic analysis of pupil attainment, achievement and rate of progress. 3.8 This report provides analysis of attainment data at ELC, P1, P4, P7 and S3 for academic session 2021/22 providing information about: • West Dunbartonshire’s performance in literacy and numeracy attainment in 2021/22 compared to 2020/21; • the percentage of pupils who achieved the expected ACEL level for their age and stage at P1, P4, P7 and S3 by June 2022; and • the attainment of pupils in each of the social indicators of multiple deprivation in session 2021/ 2022 compared to 2020/21. 4. Main Issues 4.1 Attainment in Early Learning and Childcare and Primary 1 Session 2021/222 4.1.1 Percentage of children in our Early Learning and Childcare Centres achieving the benchmark score increased for literacy (concepts of print) and numeracy (number and number processes) in 2021/22 compared to 2020/21 (Table 1): • Literacy increased by 17 % from 45 % in 2020/21 to 62 % in 2021/22 • Numeracy increased by 10 % from 20 % in 2020/21 to 30 % in 2021/22
Page 3
Table 1 4.1.2 The results in Table 2 compare attainment in the West Dunbartonshire Baseline Assessments at Primary 1 in 2021/2022 to session 2020/2021. Compared to session 2020/2021 there is slight decrease in the percentage of children in Primary 1 achieving the benchmark score in literacy (phoneme blending); and an increase in the percentage of children in Primary 1 achieving the benchmark score in numeracy (number and number processes) in session 2021/2022: • Literacy decreased by 2 % from 75 % in 2020/21 to 73 % in 2021/22 • Numeracy increased by 3 % from 77 % in 2020/21 to 80 % in 2021/22 Table 2
Page 4
4.2 Attainment in Primary Schools 2021/2022 4.2.1 Attainment in primary schools improved at all stages and organisers (reading, writing and numeracy) in session 2021/2022 4.2.2 The percentage of primary pupils achieving the level for their age and stage increased for all organisers (reading, writing, numeracy) in 2021/22 compared to 2020/21 (Table 3): Table 3 • literacy attainment increased by 9 % from 62 % in 2020/21 to 71 % in 2021/22 • numeracy attainment increased by 6 % from 72 % in 2020/21 to 78 % in 2021/22 • the largest increase in attainment is at P4 with a 13 % increase in writing attainment from 60 % in 2020/21 to 73 % in 2021/22; and 9 % increase in P4 numeracy attainment, from 67 % in 2020/21 to 76 % in 2021/22. 4.2.3 The West Dunbartonshire attainment performance for primary in 2021/22 in reading, writing, and numeracy has steadily increased since 2017 with the exception of 2021 due to the pandemic (Table 4):
Page 5
Table 4 The attainment in primary schools in academic year 2021/2022 compared to 2017 shows an increase of 5% in reading; 8% in writing; and 6% in numeracy. 4.2.4 In session 2021/2022 the attainment gap narrowed between children in our most deprived areas Quintile 1 and children in our least deprived areas Quintile 4 (Table 5), (Table 6): Table 5 WDC - Gap over time Quintile 1 - Quintile 4 Literacy (percentage point* difference) Numeracy (percentage point difference) Stage/Level 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 P1 - Early Level 25 10 18 16 P4 - First Level 24 17 28 18 P7 - Second Level 14 18 14 12 P1, P4 and P7 combined 21 15 20 16 * pp = percentage points, i.e. the number of percentages points (pp) difference between Quintile 1 and Quintile 4 • The attainment gap narrowed across primary for literacy and numeracy by 6 pp and 4 pp respectively. • The reduction in attainment gap is evident at all stages for literacy and numeracy at primary, expect for P7 literacy, which shows an increased gap of 4 pp
Page 6
Table 6 4.2.5 In literacy 91 % of primary schools maintained, or improved, their performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22; and 9 % of primary schools showed a reduction in performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22. In numeracy 81 % of primary schools maintained or improved performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22; and 19 % of primary schools showed a reduction in performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22. 4.3 Attainment in Secondary Schools 2021/22 4.3.1 Percentage of secondary pupils at S3 achieving Curriculum for Excellence Levels decreased for all organisers (reading, writing, numeracy) in 2021/22 compared to 2018/19. However the decrease is very small (Table 7): Table 7 • Literacy decreased by 1 % to 82 % for secondary. • Numeracy decreased by 2 % to 88 % for secondary.
Page 7
4.3.2 Percentage of secondary pupils achieving levels has changed very little in 2021/22 for both most and least deprived pupils compared to 2018/19, apart from for the least deprived pupils in numeracy. 4.3.3 The attainment gap narrowed between children in our most deprived areas Quintile 1 and children in our least deprived areas Quintile 4 in session 2021/22 for numeracy but increased slightly for literacy (Table 8): Table 8 WDC - Gap over time Quintile 1 - Quintile 4 Literacy (pp difference) Numeracy (pp difference) Stage/Level 2019/20 2021/22 2019/20 2021/22 S3 - Third Level+ 14 15 13 5 • The attainment gap narrowed across secondary for numeracy by 8 pp but increased for literacy by 1 pp. 4.3.4 In literacy and numeracy 40 % of secondary schools maintained, or improved, their performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22; and 60 % of secondary schools showed a reduction in performance from 2020/21 to 2021/22. 5. People Implications 5.1 Funding from the Education Recovery Budget and Scottish Attainment Challenge has provided additional teaching staff focusing on providing attainment interventions. Detail is provided in the Strategy to Raise Attainment and Achievement presented to Committee on September 28, 2022. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 Since its inception in 2015/16 to March 2022 the Council will have received £12,642,432 in funding. Attainment Challenge allocations to the Council have been £2,043,815 in both 2020/21 and 2021/22. Funding in 2022/23 has been confirmed to be £1,745,797 which is a reduction of £298,018 in 2022/23. 6.2 The Education Improvement and Attainment Plan at Appendix 1 is part funded from Education’s Budget related to COVID flexibilities. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 The reduced funding model coupled with the current context of the pandemic increases risk of a negative impact on priorities to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes for all learners in our communities. 7.2 The additional Education Improvement and Attainment Plan and Funding are helping to mitigate against the negative impacts of the pandemic.
Page 8
8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 A full Equality Impact Assessment has been completed and has identified the decrease in funding will limit ELA’s strategic ability to deliver and progress a range of functions within the raising attainment agenda. These include, but are not limited to scrutiny and challenge teams, resources to support out of hours and holiday learning as well as access to wellbeing support for parents. Scope exists to mitigate the adverse impact on pupils, however this requires adaptations across key service areas through the modification of plans to reflect the reduction in Scottish Government Funding. 9. Consultation 9.1 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted in relation to the content of this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 This report reflects the Councils 2017-2022 overarching priority to reduce inequalities for the people of West Dunbartonshire which supports improved outcomes for all learners in our community. ____________________________________ Laura Mason Chief Education Officer Person to Contact: Julie Mc Grogan, Senior Education Officer, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton G82 3PU, e-mail julie.mcgrogan@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix 1 – Action Plan for Improvement and Recovery Background Papers: None Wards Affected: All