What is the A Level point score - and how are sixth form schools and colleges ranked by it?

• The government publishes performance data for state-funded schools each year.
• Sixth forms have their own unique metric called ‘performance points’, derived from students’ A Level results.
• Performance point scores roughly equate to letter grades, meaning schools can be given an average grade.
• These scores also allow schools and colleges that use different, alternative qualifications to be directly compared.

How well your child does on their A Levels can play a significant role in what university they get into.

But even if university is not the right path for them, their grades in these important qualifications can still open doors in the future, or even limit opportunities. That’s why making sure they go to a school that supports and encourages them to perform to the best of their abilities is so essential - and why so many parents turn to school league tables to help.

Just like primary schools and secondary schools, measured based on children’s key skills at the end of Year 6 and how they have developed by the time they sit their GCSEs respectively, sixth form school and college performance is ranked based on its own unique metric.

Here’s how A Level results are used to rank sixth form colleges’ performance:

How are sixth forms ranked - and how is it calculated?

The Department for Education publishes performance tables each year for state-funded maintained schools and academies in England, while Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland typically publish their own data.

These tables measure and rank primary schools, secondary schools, and sixth forms separately. This data is able to be sorted by a number of different metrics, and anyone is able to access it for free - and even sort schools based on other factors, like local authority area.

The default ranking method for sixth form schools and colleges - and the key metric used in many league table calculations, including ours - is the average result that students achieved per A Level entry, as well as something called a ‘point score’.

The point scores used to rank sixth forms are also an average; the average number of performance points per A Level entered by a given school’s students. Performance points are a unique measurement calculated by multiplying ‘size’ (the average length of time it takes to teach a qualification), and challenge (the level of the qualification and the grade achieved).

For A Level results, point scores end up roughly correlating to the different letter grades it is possible for students to get. The most points you can get is 60, which is the equivalent to a top A* grade. A score of 50 is loosely equivalent to an A, while 40 is a B, 30 is a C, 20 is a D, and 10 is an E - with fails not receiving any points. This means that it is possible to say a college had a B average, for example, if their average point score comes out over 40, with the letters often further broken down into B+, B, and B- to show how close they were.

These performance points are a useful tool, because they can be used to compare schools even if they study different qualifications with their own grading systems - like the International Baccalaureate. You can find out more about calculating performance point scores for other qualifications here.

It is worth noting that if you also compare schools based on other league tables besides the official Department for Education performance rankings, they may also take other things into account too. You should always check what they say about the metric they use, so that you fully understand how they are ranking schools.

What do you think about how the government measures sixth form schools and colleges performance? Have your say and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.