4Matrix and new framework inspections Q:  "Can 4Matrix help a secondary school that is expecting a new style inspection?" A:  4Matrix has already been of help to many schools in their National Challenge work, in their journey out of special measures, or to contribute to the evidence base for current standards.  Ofsted now expects headteachers to know in detail about the quality of teaching across their school. 4Matrix was developed to support the TDA/National College approach to reducing in-school variation. Measures of consistent teaching are prime evidence for the effectiveness of school leadership. The 2009 evaluation schedule asks inspectors to evaluate two important measures:     Attainment, 'taking into account any important variations between groups of pupils,     subjects and courses, and trends over time".     Achievement, 'taking into account the quality of learning and progress for all pupils". Attainment can be measured precisely using examination results and test scores, but achievement must be inferred. Grade descriptors show how achievement should be judged, e.g. 'Achievement is likely to be good when attainment is average and learning and progress is good'. Hence, judging achievement requires a companion judgment on progress and the quality of teaching and learning. Making judgments on achievement will therefore be partly subjective. Schools can increase the certainty of a sound judgment by sharing with inspectors their own evidence of how they are assuring a consistent quality of learning, through consistently good teaching. 4Matrix 2010 will provide measures of the differences in the achievement of groups of pupils across the school. Our new '3 levels of progress' tool in 4Matrix 2010 (due in April) will also forecast the percentages of Y11 pupils who are not on course to achieve 3 levels of progress by the 2010 examinations. Our new Lesson Evaluation Tool will provide a standardised format for observing lessons that parallels the approach described in the Ofsted 2009 evaluation schedule. This tool will be printed out from 4Matrix on selecting the teaching group, and will be prepopulated with information about the progress and achievement of this group of pupils, plus any teacher research into sub-group performance. See this link for the draft TDA/National College guide to reducing in-school variation - which refers to the use of 4Matrix. For more questions answered, see Frequently Asked Questions