Progress 8 explained

Progress 8 is a measure of the progress children make between the end of primary school and the end of secondary school. 

Progress 8 and Attainment 8 are based on pupils’ performance in eight qualifications. These are English and maths, up to three subjects from the Ebacc list, and students’ three highest scores from a range of other qualifications, including GCSEs and approved non-GCSEs. English and maths are given double weighting to reflect their importance.

The raw point score from these eight qualifications is averaged to give the Attainment 8 score. 

The Progress 8 score is calculated by comparing each student's Attainment 8 score to those nationally of other students who had the same KS2 SATs results. This is designed to measure how much progress each student has made from Year 6 to Year 11. 

A school’s Progress 8 score is usually between -1 and +1. A score of +1 means that pupils in that school have achieve one grade higher in each qualification than other pupils nationally, with the same KS2 SATs results. A score of -1 means they achieve one grade lower. The average Progress 8 score of all secondary schools nationally is 0.  (adapted from theschoolrun.com).