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What Is Progress 8 and Why It Matters More Than League Tables
Progress 8 measures the value a school adds to its pupils. Here's why it's a better indicator of school quality than raw results.
FindGreatSchools Team
When comparing secondary schools, many parents focus on Attainment 8 scores, the raw GCSE results. But Progress 8 tells a much more important story: how much progress did the school help pupils make?
How Progress 8 Works
Progress 8 compares each pupil's GCSE results against the national average for pupils with similar Key Stage 2 results. A score of 0 means average progress, positive means above average, and negative means below. A school scoring +0.5 is helping pupils achieve roughly half a grade higher than expected across eight subjects.
Why It Matters
A school in a leafy suburb might have high Attainment 8 scores because its intake is already high-achieving. But if its Progress 8 is negative, it's actually underperforming; those pupils would have done better elsewhere. Conversely, a school in a disadvantaged area with modest raw results but a strong positive Progress 8 is genuinely adding value.
Finding Progress 8 on FindGreatSchools
On each school's detail page, you'll find both Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores in the performance section. We source this data directly from the DfE's official performance tables, updated annually.
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