There is a change this year in the ranking of the best colleges in France. Until now, only the results of the national patent diploma made it possible to classify the establishments. Relevant data, but insufficient in the eyes of National Education, which reveals a completely revised and corrected list, on the model of that of high schools, also unveiled this Wednesday.
So make way for the Ivac: the added value indicator for colleges. By integrating socio-economic factors and taking an interest in the school career of students, this system goes “further than the simple success rate” for the patent, explains Fabienne Rosenwald, head of the Department of Assessment, forecasting and performance (Depp) of National Education.
Indeed, a 90% success rate on the exam cannot be analyzed in the same way whether it comes from a college where the students are globally favored (economically, culturally, socially) or from another more difficult context. “To measure the contribution of an establishment, it is necessary to compare the success of each of its students with that of comparable students educated in comparable establishments”, summarizes the Ministry of Education.
Take into account the context of the student and the college
For this, the Ivac takes into account the characteristics of college students (gender, sports and cultural activities, diploma and profession of parents, school level at the entrance to college, etc.) and establishments (success rate and average mark for the patent, access rate of the 6e at the 3e share of pupils of 3e present at the exam…) in order to establish average profiles.
From this data, the Depp calculates the expected success rate of each college (given the profile of the students it welcomes). By comparing this expected rate to the actual success rate, she obtains the “added value” of the college.
This type of school analysis is not new. It has existed since 1993 for high schools (Ival) and since 2021 for vocational training (Inserjeunes). The middle school indicator is only available this year because there was no reference system assessing the level of students entering middle school. However, since 2018, all 6e are assessed in French and maths at the start of the school year in September. This allows, four years later, to establish the first analyzes on the results of the 2022 patent.
Ranking of colleges
The public does better than the private in “added value”
If, on average, the students and establishments benefiting from the best social position show better results, the list of the 500 best French colleges is still very different from previous years. Taking into account only the average writing score for the 2022 patent, private establishments under contract monopolize 78% of the first 500 places, compared to 22% for public colleges, none of which are classified as priority education (REP and REP +).
With Ivac, the public becomes the majority (51%) and 15% of the 500 best colleges are in REP and REP +. “France remains a country where social origin has the strongest impact on academic success, but these results show that there is no fatality, analyzes Fabienne Rosenwald. The added value provides real information on the action of the establishments. »
The ranking of high schools
