School performance enhanced with interactive software

February, 2002

School governors, head teachers and other key school personnel can now review the performance of schools and individual pupils in England much more efficiently than was previously possible thanks to the latest software developed by BYG Systems of Nottingham for the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) working with the COI (Central Office of Information).

One of the leading media houses in the UK, BYG Systems designed the Interactive Autumn Package (IAP) 2001 software tool which processes and analyses a school's pupil performance data and compares it to the 2001 KS1-3 and GCSE/GNVQ National figures.

Delivered in October 2001 to around 25,000 schools in England, the enhanced CD-ROM based IAP system took around three months to develop and provides a flexible software tool to support the manual version also available. With this computerised version, the user gets access to one of the most powerful interactive systems of its kind.

Alasdair Maughan, Innovations Manager at BYG comments,

'Our clients needed a system capable of being used by many thousands of teachers who have varying levels of computer literacy, so ease of use was a key factor. For maximum efficiency and flexibility, we used Visual C++ and Visual Basic development tools. Chart FX was the selected graphics package as it can handle the complex graphics and powerful calculations required for this application.'

BYG created the original system two years ago and has developed the latest 2001-2002 version for the DfES and COI, who were client and project manager respectively for the IAP project. The latest enhancements have made the software even more efficient than previous versions and overall ease of use has improved significantly.

The Interactive Autumn Package is designed to be an adaptable and efficient tool, which makes it easier to review school and pupil performance for all key stages. Not only does the IAP contain all the national data as published in the paper version of the 2001 Autumn Package of Pupil Performance Information, but it also includes the facility to enter manually or import electronically school and pupil level data so that graphical comparisons can be displayed quickly.

In addition, the IAP can further simplify the process of data analysis by automatically processing some of the relevant calculations needed to undertake a thorough school evaluation. BYG also manages the help line to assist users (teachers primarily) in the correct use of the software.

Says Joe Bennaton, Operations Director at BYG Systems,

"Having already delivered a series of successful projects for Government Departments, we had the experience and knowledge necessary to carry out this large complex project in a very short timescale. We are very pleased with the final results and have received positive feedback from the users themselves".

Among the main features of the system is School Level Data Analysis - which enables a school to compare its data (such as the percentage of pupils reaching a particular level) against the national data. Other facilities include Further Data Analysis, which lets users benchmark, make graphical comparisons and look at performance trends, while Pupil Level Data Analysis allows a pupil's results to be entered for in-depth analysis, through the use of Value-Added graphs. Another feature, Pupil Level Data Entry, makes it easy to import data from an external file or database.

A specialist in developing interactive media, BYG Systems provides businesses with a whole range of solutions, including b2b, business to consumer, web and extranet, e-learning and e-marketing. BYG's total solution includes consultancy, integration, hosting, maintenance and post project support. The company's client base consists of blue chip organisations in the retail, finance, pharmaceutical and telecommunications sectors.

For further information please contact
BYG Systems Limited
Telephone: 0115 9252221
email: info@bygsystems.com

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