Training & Support
In May 2025, Alps and GL Assessment, part of Renaissance, announced an exciting new partnership designed to help independent schools drive academic excellence by combining the strengths of both organisations. Alps brings its expertise in data-driven performance analysis while GL Assessment provides CAT4, the UK’s most widely used assessment of reasoning abilities. CAT4 helps schools establish accurate baselines and benchmark students against national data. By integrating CAT4 with Alps’ well-established progress tracking and analysis system, schools will be able to build a clearer, more comprehensive picture of student potential and progress over time.
Here we explain some of the key ways in which independent schools can harness the combined strengths of Alps and GL Assessment to ensure that every student receives the tailored support they need to reach their full potential.
Evaluating examination results
Staff at schools and colleges spend the summer term preparing for the public examination results days in August when they not only distribute results and offer guidance on next steps but also begin the crucial task of evaluating student outcomes and identifying key areas for improvement. This analysis is central to the continuous drive for academic excellence.
Attainment or progress?
When reviewing examination outcomes, it is important to consider both attainment and progress. While attainment data offers a clear indication of the standards achieved, value-added or progress measures based on a student’s individual starting point give a more nuanced understanding of the impact of teaching and learning. These measures allow school leaders to explore the progress made by different student groups across the curriculum.
Notably, the recently updated ISI inspection framework explicitly highlights the importance of student progress. In the ‘Teaching, Learning and Assessment’ section, it states that leaders must plan to ensure that learners ‘make good progress according to their ability’, and that performance should be evaluated against ‘national norms’.
The Alps – GL partnership provides a robust solution for independent schools seeking to evaluate progress against national frameworks. By using the mean SAS (Standard Age Score) from CAT4 assessments as a baseline at Key Stages 4 and 5 and comparing this to Alps’ subject-level benchmarks drawn from full national DfE datasets, leaders can assess progress across individual subject areas and GCSE, A level and IB qualifications.
With this insight, school leaders can explore key questions such as:
- Are students making expected progress across all subjects and qualification levels?
- Are different student groups e.g. those with EAL or SEND achieving equivalent progress?
- Are students from different prior attainment groups making expected progress?
- Were outcomes consistent across teaching groups?
- How accurate were predicted grades compared to actual results?
- How has attendance influenced progress?
The importance of monitoring
While evaluating exam results is essential for identifying strategic priorities, ongoing assessment and internal monitoring throughout the academic year are equally critical. Without these, schools lack the quality assurance required for sustained improvement.
Our internal analysis of Alps’ schools indicates that the highest-performing institutions are those that regularly upload student data and engage a wide range of staff in accessing and interpreting that data via the Alps Connect platform. This approach supports a culture of continuous improvement, enabling timely and meaningful professional dialogue. It also ensures that subject leaders and teachers are well equipped to drive progress in their areas.
Central to these professional conversations is the effective use of all available data to identify underperformance and guide targeted interventions. Many independent schools make excellent use of the detailed reasoning data within CAT4’s verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning batteries. This is supported by high-quality teacher resources offering tailored strategies based on individual learner profiles:
CAT4 Learner Guide
For schools using Alps Connect, this CAT4 information can be added directly to learner profiles. When reviewing monitoring data and planning interventions, this reasoning data can be considered alongside academic progress indicators to form a holistic view of student development.
Summary
Effective evaluation of examination results, combined with robust in-year monitoring, plays a vital role in raising student achievement. What matters most is that data is presented in a clear and accessible way, analysed within a robust framework and used to inform meaningful actions.
By asking the right questions at the right time, top-performing schools are able to make strategic decisions that positively impact student outcomes. The combined Alps/GL approach provides schools with the tools and insights they need to do exactly that. We are proud to support independent schools in using data effectively to drive improvement.
About Alps
Alps is a leading provider of education performance analysis tools, helping schools and colleges improve outcomes through data-driven decision-making. With over 20 years of experience, Alps works with thousands of schools and colleges across the UK to support their performance improvement efforts. Visit the Alps website here.