Pupil progress between 11 and 16 years old (‘Progress 8’)
Published
1. Main facts and figures
- pupils from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest ‘Progress 8’ score (which measures progress between 11 and 16 years old) out of all ethnic groups, followed by pupils from the Indian ethnic group
- pupils from the traveller of Irish heritage and white Gypsy or Roma ethnic groups had the lowest average Progress 8 scores
- pupils from the white British, black Caribbean, and mixed white and black Caribbean ethnic groups made lower than average progress
- among black ethnic groups, pupils from the black African group had the highest average in every ethnic group
- in every ethnic group, girls made more progress than boys
- in every ethnic group, pupils eligible for free school meals made less progress than those 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.
‘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, and 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
Data for local authorities with only one school are not shown in the data.
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 2 exceptions:
- there are separate categories for traveller of Irish heritage, and white Gypsy or Roma pupils
- pupils in the Chinese ethnic group are in a separate category to Asian pupils
Ethnicity was known for 98.0% of pupils.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.
Figures for the traveller of Irish heritage ethnic group are based on a small number of pupils and are less reliable as a result.
In the data file
See Download the data for data by:
- estimates by male and female
- estimates by free school meal (FSM) status
- estimates by special education needs (SEN) status
- estimates by type of school
- estimates by type of selection
- estimates by religion of school *estimates by type of geography
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out more about how confidence intervals are used 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 | 553,527 |
| Asian | 0.54 | 59,980 |
| Bangladeshi | 0.55 | 9,971 |
| Indian | 0.83 | 15,888 |
| Pakistani | 0.28 | 24,515 |
| Asian other | 0.70 | 9,606 |
| White | -0.14 | 409,537 |
| White British | -0.18 | 379,111 |
| White Irish | 0.09 | 1,510 |
| Gypsy or Roma | -1.00 | 1,117 |
| Irish traveller | -1.03 | 163 |
| White other | 0.49 | 27,636 |
| Black | 0.18 | 31,754 |
| Black African | 0.35 | 21,181 |
| Black Caribbean | -0.33 | 6,631 |
| Black other | 0.11 | 3,942 |
| Mixed | -0.04 | 31,608 |
| White and Asian | 0.21 | 7,595 |
| White and black African | 0.01 | 4,248 |
| White and black Caribbean | -0.46 | 8,662 |
| Mixed other | 0.09 | 11,103 |
| Chinese | 0.99 | 1,914 |
| Other | 0.54 | 9,207 |
| Unknown | -0.39 | 9,527 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
4. Data sources
Source
Key stage 4 performance, academic year 2021 to 2022
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, school characteristics, religious denomination, value, denominator, numerator, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound).
measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, year, geography, geography_type, gender, age, free school meal (fsm), sen_type, sen_grouping, admission_type, school characteristics, religious denomination, value, denominator, numerator, confidence intervals (upper bound, lower bound)