Slide No:1 This presentation is designed to assist your organisation in its staff development and training regarding the measures of success. It contains speaker notes which can be viewed or printed in notes page view It can be downloaded and delivered as it stands, or can be customised to meet your needs It is intended for use in presenting the measures to: Owners and Chief Executives in work-based Learning providers Implementing measures of success: training resource The presentation, including notes, can be downloaded from the LSC website:

Slide No:2 Section 1 Introduction

Slide No:3 They are a suite of measures developed to measure the success of learners and the performance of providers more accurately and fairly thus helping to demonstrate the sector’s existing strengths and to identify areas for improvement There are currently seven measures being developed for the learning and skills sector. These are: Value added (VA) and distance travelled (DT) Qualification success rates Recognising and recording progress and achievement (RARPA) Learner satisfaction Learner destination Responsiveness to employers Staff measures What are the measures of success?

Slide No:4 integrate key information used for quality management with that used by the inspectorates and the LSC provide you with powerful tools for the analysis of performance at organisation and subject/qualification level can help you monitor the progress of different groups of learners enable you to highlight strengths and weaknesses in performance relating to learners’ progress and achievement stimulate you to review quality management processes and target quality improvement strategies enable you to help individual learners maximise progress and achievement are to be used for quality management and accountability How are the measures used? The measures:

Slide No:5 How are the measures of success relevant to me? The measures: are the key tools for all staff making judgements about the performance of your learners, highlighting strengths and areas for development help your managers and staff monitor the progress of different groups of learners enable trainers to assist individual learners to maximise progress and achievement contribute to effective quality management integrate key information you use for quality management with that used by the inspectorates, LSC and other agencies

Slide No:6 Which of the measures apply to my organisation? The measures which are currently applicable to WBL are: Qualification success rates DT RARPA These and the other measures are being developed as part of the LSC’s Framework for Excellence. The application of all of the measures to WBL is part of this.

Slide No:7 Scope Qualification success rates All learners on courses leading to external qualification/certification Distance travelled Learners on courses leading to other approved qualifications at Levels, 1, 2 & 3, including non-graded RARPA: Learners on courses that do not lead to external qualification/ certification

Slide No:8 What will the measure help me to address? The measures will prompt you to consider how your organisation: performs in relation to national qualification success rates? performs in terms of the distance travelled by your learners from entry to final achievement? meets the RARPA standards? In all cases, what actions are you taking to remedy identified weaknesses and to celebrate and build on strengths?

Slide No:9 The use of measures of success for inspection The Adult Learning inspectorate (ALI) has been piloting and gradually introducing the measures ALI will be encouraging WBL providers to ensure that: You have accessed measures of success data and information You have used the information to help evaluate the quality of provision You have planned or taken action as a result of reflecting on the data and information

Slide No:10 Section 2 Q ualification success rates

Slide No:11 What are work-based learning qualification success rates? The number of qualifications achieved as a proportion of the total number entered They provide you with broad measures of learners’ success in achieving qualification goals Apply to all learners on LSC-funded courses Measure used in work-based learning for some time Changes introduced in 2006 to harmonise success rate calculations across whole Learning and Skills sector

Slide No:12 Qualification success rates in WBL Currently there are two measures for WBL: overall success rate and timely success rate Taken together, they can help you to address instances of slow progress of learners The difference between the timely rate and the overall rates is due to different definitions of the cohort Calculations now based on planned end date of programmes, rather than actual as before

Slide No:13 How are WBL qualification success rates calculated? QSR = Number achieving learning aim / Number in cohort % Overall success rate Cohort = learners are counted at the later of the expected end date or actual end date Therefore, all achievements are captured Timely success rate Cohort = those learners planned to complete in the year Achievements = those attained at planned end date (or recorded up to one month after planned end date)

Slide No:14 How should I make use of qualification success rates data? To investigate how well your area of learning compares to national benchmarks To help monitor the performance of different groups of learners, by gender, age and learning difficulty and/or disability, in combination with success rate data from other sources (WBL) To compare your learners’ achievements in the given year with those which are ‘timely’ - i.e. achieved on or within one calendar month of the planned end date Most importantly, you need to identify and act on areas of provision that are at or below minimum performance benchmarks

Slide No:15 Section 3 Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement (RARPA)

Slide No:16 What is RARPA? RARPA aims to help you assure the quality of provision while focusing on learner achievement. Developed to help teachers, trainers and learners to record and recognise progress and achievement in provision which does not lead to nationally recognised qualifications or external accreditation.

Slide No:17 The RARPA approach Based on five inter-related standards that help ensure your learners enjoy a high quality experience and maximise their success. Applies to learners on courses that do not lead to external qualification / certification The standards can be cross-referenced with one or more key questions in the Common Inspection Framework (CIF). The standards follow a logical sequence in line with recognised educational practice. Should not produce additional bureaucracy – effective quality assurance and quality management will enable RARPA to be accommodated within current processes.

Slide No:18 The 5 RARPA standards The RARPA standards refer to the five stages in a process: 1.Aims 2.Initial assessment 3.Identification of appropriately challenging learning objectives 4.Recognition and recording of progress and achievement during programme (formative assessment) 5.End-of-programme learner self-assessment, tutor summative assessment, review of overall progress and achievement

Slide No:19 Who does RARPA benefit? Learners: It makes learning more effective by encouraging your learners to engage more actively by measuring their progress and achievements Teachers: By following the stages in the process, you and your colleagues can ensure that learning is taking place and that the learner is making progress Managers: By looking at evidence that the process is being followed, you can establish whether teaching, learning and assessment are effective Inspectors: The five stages are cross-referenced with the CIF, so evidence of implementing RARPA can also provide evidence of effective practice for Inspectors

Slide No:20 Meeting RARPA standards Meeting RARPA standards means that you should: apply RARPA processes in a way that benefits learners and makes sense to them be open to change and to developing assessment practices as necessary record evidence of learners’ progress in appropriate ways help each individual learner realise her / his full potential

Slide No:21 Section 4 Distance travelled

Slide No:22 Distance travelled (DT) DT shows the progress of individual learners based on their prior attainment. It measures how your learners perform when compared to learners with similar starting points in other providers. DT covers NVQs at levels 2 and 3, as part of Advanced Apprenticeships and Apprenticeships, and as part of WBL programmes as well as full Advanced Apprenticeships and full Apprenticeships.

Slide No:23 What does Distance travelled do for us? is a powerful tools for the analysis of performance at school and subject/qualification level enables you to identify areas of strength and weakness in your organisation’s overall performance relating to learners’ progress and achievement enables teachers to set targets for learners and assess performance of specific groups by subject-qualifications enables your staff to assist individual learners to maximise progress and achievement provides evidence that will be used by Ofsted and local authorities. Distance travelled:

Slide No:24 Distance travelled Outputs The LSC has developed a software called the Learner Achievement Tracker (LAT) which produces three types of DT output Summary charts National comparison graphs Chances charts

Slide No:25 The LAT Tutorial A tutorial on the LAT showing how to access DT and other data relevant to your organisation is available online at:

Slide No:26 Section 5 Relationship of the measures to the LSC’s Framework for Excellence

Slide No:27 Framework for Excellence The Framework for Excellence is a new, all-inclusive and radical approach to managing performance across the learning and skills sector including WBL providers. Further development of the measures is being taken forward through the Framework for Excellence All of the measures of success will be included in the evidence for the seven key performance indicators that form the basis of the Framework for Excellence.

Slide No:28 Framework for Excellence: Key Performance Indicators Finance Financial health Financial control Effectiveness Quality of outcomes Quality of provision Responsiveness Delivery against plan Responsiveness to employers Responsiveness to learners Overall rating Measures data

Slide No:29 Section 6 Further Information

Slide No:30 Further information on the Framework for Excellence The Framework for Excellence website: (from mid-November 2006) The LSC website:

Slide No:31 Implementing measures of success: The Handbook The Handbook contains an introduction to the Framework for Excellence and comprehensive details of: What the measures of success are Explanations of the methodologies used Timetables for piloting and implementation Case studies

Slide No:32 Other sources of information The Provider Gateway: LSC’s web-based internet portal which enables providers to access information which supports self-assessment and quality improvement, available at: The QIA’s Excellence Gateway: resources, materials, support and examples of effective practice, available at:

Slide No:33 End of presentation © LSC November 2006 Published by the Learning and Skills Council. Extracts from this publication may be reproduced for non-commercial educational or training purposes on condition that the source is acknowledged and the findings are not misrepresented. This publication is available in an electronic form on the Learning Skills Council web site: Publication reference: LSC-P-NAT- xxxxxxx. If you require this publication in an alternative format or language please contact the LSC Help Desk: