"Prior to using 4Matrix I would have had to spend hours number crunching, only to produce complicated tables of analysis that only those with a background in mathematics could understand and put to good use. The 4Matrix toolbox is so simple to use. I have described it as being "idiot proof". All of our Curriculum Team Leaders have found the package easy to use, and have therefore began to really evaluate and review their performance with confidence. Consequently, SMT use the package to set team targets with team leaders, who then use this information to set individual teacher's targets.
Our aim to reduce 'within school variation' has been greatly enhanced with 4Matrix. It has allowed Senior/Middle Leaders and their teams to get beneath the headline A*-C figures and ascertain who has really added value to their subject areas/teaching groups/students. It has raised the pertinent questions and stimulated appropriate dialogue that never before took place comprehensively, with respect to the college as a whole. And the icing on the cake is that the data is there at our fingertips from GCSE results day, hence allowing our target review and setting cycle to start earlier."
- Glenn Smith, Assistant Principal, Coombeshead College, Devon
"4Matrix has already proven to be a helpful tool that allows us through its graphic display to immediately draw insightful conclusions that are not readily apparent from the raw data alone.
The ability to make comparisons between subjects has given us a real handle on in-school variation at KS4 and already Senior Team subject mentors are beginning to ask colleagues about the underlying causes for differences in subject achievement. We are now in a strong position to develop searching questions that will become the basis for collaborative improvement on many levels.
4Matrix has improved our whole school evaluation and is further informing our judgments with respect to the school’s School Evaluation Form (SEF).”
- Nigel Pressnell, Deputy Headteacher, Arnewood School, Hampshire
"Attainment scores on their own don't do justice to schools successfully working with disadvantaged students, refugee children or non-English speakers. 4Matrix levels the playing field between schools with differing profiles of attainment by looking at comparative student achievement. 4Matrix allows a school that has a higher-than-normal profile of disadvantaged students to feel confident that its efforts to raise the achievement of those students will be properly recognised in the system that judges schools. Having lots of data is not what self-evaluation is about. What counts is having the right tools to make top-level judgements on that data. The developers of 4Matrix have found a tool that will delight many school leaders in their ambition to do the best for all their students, and to have their efforts properly recognised."
- Barbi Goulding, Principal of Paddington Academy
"This software has allowed us to move away from calculating numbers and to focus upon action points. It graphically highlights success and underachievement and enables Heads of Department to channel their energies into action planning, both to build upon success and to research the causes of underachievement.
As a Deputy Head in charge of assessment I can see that this tool alone has enabled our school to refocus, recognise strengths and weaknesses, and target the support we need to provide to students and our professional priorities for developing teaching."
- Phil Grundy, Deputy Headteacher, the Royal Docks School Newham.
"What a toolbox 4Matrix is! It is fabulous! It has just saved me hours of work.
Instantaneous overview of results for head teachers/principals. Immediate reports for heads of department and a saving of days for the poor overworked senior teacher with responsibility for exam analysis."
- Les Glasby, Assistant Principal, Tendring Technology College, Essex
"4Matrix will save examination officers many hours of low level data-handling in order to create reports. A tool like 4Matrix can enhance their role as leaders and managers of a key area of a school's business. The Exam Officers Association is pleased to endorse 4Matrix as an essential tool for those professionals whose work involves processing a school's performance data."
- Andrew Harland, Chief Executive of the Exam Officers Association
Teachers like this system too.
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