Professor Harvey Goldstein of the Graduate School of Education took part in Radio Four’s More or Less series, in a programme entitled ‘Top of the Class’. The programme told the story of the league table, and considered the next major and complex reform of school performance assessment due next year, asking whether the ambition of simplicity and accountability will finally be realised, whether it will prove to be a ‘15-year march up a blind alley’, or whether it will change the way we look at and use data about pupil performance.

The full programme can now be downloaded from the Centre for Multilevel Modelling’s website at www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk/learning-training/audio.shtml.