Attainment 8

Attainment 8 measures a student's average grade across eight subjects – the same subjects that count towards Progress 8. This measure is designed to encourage schools to offer a broad, well-balanced curriculum.

The eight subjects fit into three groups:

1. English and maths. These are double-weighted, which means they count twice. There are rules around how English and maths qualifications are added to this group and how to count them: see the Department for Education's Progress 8 page.
2. English Baccalaureate (Ebacc). These are the highest scores from the sciences, computer science, geography, history and languages.
3. Open group. Any remaining GCSEs and other approved academic, arts or vocational qualifications.

Calculating Attainment 8

For a student, add up the points for their 8 subjects and divide by 10 to get their Attainment 8 score. A school's Attainment 8 score is the average of all of its students' scores. Students don't have to take 8 subjects, but they score zero for any unfilled slots.

GCSE qualifications from 2017

From 2017, points will be allocated to the new GCSEs on a 1–9 point scale corresponding to the new grading system. So a grade 9 will get 9 points.

Legacy GCSEs (graded A* to G) will also be mapped on to the 1–9 point scale from 2017 – see the table below. However, legacy GCSEs will only get a maximum of 8.5 points under the new system.

Discounting: how to add points when qualifications overlap

If a student takes the same subject at both GCSE and AS, only the AS points will count in the performance tables.

Once a new 9–1 GCSE is awarded, you can’t add a legacy A*–G GCSE grade (or equivalent qualification grade) in that subject to the performance tables.

There's more detail in our video below (read video transcript), and on the DfE’s Progress 8 and Attainment 8 guidance pages.