Making the GRADE (GRading and Admissions Data for England)

ObjectivesTo provide a data owner’s perspective into the journey to create GRADE, an Ofqual-DfE-UCAS linked administrative dataset, and to make it available for independent research. Moving from the ethical principles underpinning the sharing of data and through multiple strands of the project, we will draw lessons to inform best practice.
 MethodsAreas of research interest were used as drivers to define the content of GRADE. To ensure that research questions of relevance to both policy makers and scholars could be addressed, we established an advisory committee including key representatives of the statistical, research, and educational policy communities. Thanks to the collaboration with technical staff from participating organisations, the data was linked to ensure that students’ anonymised data could be tracked across different data sources. We then focused on supporting external research by producing metadata and supplementary documentation, as well as establishing independent funding provision for projects using the GRADE data.
 ResultsThe internal research conducted was helpful to inform policy development and to test the data. The GRADE data was created and made av