The 1% principle is a powerful concept.
Used to great success by Sir Dave Brailsford and others, it takes the idea that lots of small improvements collectively make a huge difference as this quote from Shirley Mansfield – founder of CoachSME – explains..
“From cycling to education; car making to holidays, people are finding that 1% certainly makes a big difference. But why? It simply means focusing on small changes to everything in the business; 1% at a time.
Concentrate on making many 1% improvements and you’ll find the compound effect is huge.”
Susan Mansfield – Ultimate Guide to Marginal Gains and the 1 principle
Just imagine what this approach could do in your school?
The 1% principle is also a powerful concept in education.
By meticulously analysing assessment data, educators can identify small, incremental improvements that collectively lead to significant progress. This detailed examination helps in pinpointing specific areas where students need support, enabling targeted interventions to address learning gaps.
Remember, this does not have to be done in one go. Too often, we search for the big fix. The 1% principle is based around lots of small changes that make a larger difference over a period of time. The key is integrating these insights into school improvement plans to ensure that the benefits are felt not just in individual classrooms but across the entire school.
But where do you start?
The first task is identifying the 1% gains that you can start with. Finding these is the key to whole process.
The KS2 SATs give a validated indication of each of your students strengths and weaknesses and the results are made available every year by the DfE – broken down to performance in each individual question via analyse school performance.
These are standardised assessments – marked independently – and so give a great overview of your school curriculum and how successfully it guided your Year 6 to achieve their potential. But more importantly, this assessment data can provide the keys for you to unlock your those marginal gains across every year of your school.
Our Results are average in all subjects across the board. How do we search for something specific?
We gain the 1% by deep diving into the results to determine which topics students excel in and where they struggle. For example, if many students perform well in calculations but poorly in measurement, you can focus on improving this particular topic area. It might be students understand the concepts but struggle with applying them. This could then lead to targeted teaching on problem-solving skills rather than basic math.
We are well below the national on making and explaining inferences – should we look at this?
We gain the 1% here by making informed decisions about our future curriculum. By looking at the analysis of each question type, it might be that students can understand the vocabulary but have difficulty making inferences about the text. Consistent gaps across a cohort may indicate areas where teaching strategies need adjustment. This shifts the focus to teaching inference skills and critical thinking.
We struggle with the reading paper above all the others especially with boys.
We gain the 1% by implementing 15mins reading for every pupil every day. We can take this further by developing targeted interventions for the boys across the school – maybe looking at different teaching strategies. Further analysis could suggest the issue is with comparisons or inferences and this could become a focus for staff training or further development lower down the school.
We have a large cohort of EAL students – how can we improve this?
We gain the 1% by creating a new approach for teaching students with EAL – focussing in how they performed as a cohort. Are there certain topics that you could focus on for that smaller group. Could you introduce more focused teaching for that cohort? Small changes to specific cohorts can significantly improve school results overall.
Question Level Analysis enables you do this
Described by some as the magic bullet, Question Level Analysis breaks assessment data down into groups – looking instead at topics and cohorts rather than the individual answers themselves.
This aggregation allows you to identify patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed – highlighting specific areas where students are struggling or excelling and allowing educators to make targeted interventions.
However, the real strength of QLA lies in its ability to guide evidence-based decision-making.
By identifying small, marginal gains, schools can implement focused strategies that lead to significant improvements over time. When these insights are integrated into school improvement plans, they can enhance teaching effectiveness and student outcomes across the entire school.
QLA Results from DAISI Education
Our Question Level Analysis of KS2 SATs Results takes this raw data from the DfE – sent in to us by schools across the country – and aggregates it for you in a easy-to-read PDF report sent directly back to your inbox.
- Time-Saving Analysis: See secure areas and gaps to focus on.
- Comprehensive: Meaningful Insight by Summary , Topic , Question , Cohort and Pupil.
- Quick Turnaround: Reports sent direct to your inbox within days, no login required.
- Proven to Help: Read our Case Study of how one school found those marginal gains.
- Clear Presentation: Single-page views with graphs, charts, colour coding, and benchmarking.
- No Data Inputting: Just download and send us your data.
Headteachers, Governors and School Improvement Advisors have all praised our reports as being “Accessible to all”, “Time saving” and “Outstanding Best Value!” and it is proven to help.. 80% of schools who used our analysis consistently over three years saw an increase in their attainment.
Click here to find out more
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