National Test Results Released for 2016: Strong Results Show Value Added for Internationella Engelska Skolan Students Between Years 6 and 9.

Swedish education agency Skolverket has now published statistics from the 2016 national tests for middle schools. Internationella Engelska Skolan’s (IES) year 9 students have once again achieved significantly higher results than the national average.

In the subject of mathematics the difference between IES and municipal schools has grown. Some 60 percent of year nine students at IES managed to achieve top grades
(A-C) which compared with 35 percent of students in municipally run schools in Sweden. In Swedish, 72 percent of students in IES took top grades, against 51 percent in municipal schools. In English the difference was 97 percent against 69.

As part of its quality assessment system, Internationella Engelska Skolan is now looking at the value added to its students. Irrespective of the socioeconomic composition, how much does the school help to raise the students' attainment level over a three-year period. This is a measure, which is strongly recommended by school researchers. Now, for the first time it is possible to compare the results achieved by students in grade nine in spring 2016 with the corresponding national tests that they undertook when they were in grade six in the spring of 2013. IES has found a way to statistically follow the students so that we can see the results for the exact same student body for both tests.

Comparing these results to find the value added shows that Internationella Engelska Skolan has a significant positive effect on the education of students. On the national test in mathematics in year six, the gap between IES and municipal schools in terms of the percentage of students achieving top grades A-C was 11 percentage points. Three years later this gap had grown to 29 percentage points, meaning a value added by IES of 18 percentage points. In the subject of Swedish, the value added is 12 percentage points while in English the difference is one percentage point (this is because 95 per cent of IES students already received top grades in year six after most of them had studied with IES for three years).

In the debate around education, it is often claimed that the positive outcomes from Internationella Engelska Skolan’s students are the result of the socioeconomic background of the students. This is said despite the fact that IES does not select its students, has many schools in poorer socio-economic areas and has a higher proportion of students with a foreign background than the average in Sweden. The new measure of value added validates that IES schools have a significant positive impact on students’ attainment. Students have shown a greater academic improvement, regardless of their background, at IES schools than they have in those run by municipalities.

Damian Brunker, Head of Academics for Internationella Engelska Skolan, comments: “It is clear from the results that the calm teaching environment and the work ethic that we offer, combined with the recruitment of qualified teachers from other countries, drives positive results among students, irrespective of social background.”

  
For more information, please contact:
   
Johan Hähnel, IES’s IR Manager
Tel: +46 (0)70 605 6334
e-mail: johan.hahnel@engelska.se  

This information is such that Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (publ) is obliged to publish pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the above contact, at 8:15 a.m. CET on 5 December 2016.

  
About Internationella Engelska Skolan
  
Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading independent school organizations in Sweden, with 21 400 students in 30 schools during school year 2016/17. IES operates schools for students in grades 1-12. Its main focus is grade 4-9, what is often called “middle school”. Within the compulsory school system in Sweden, IES is the leading independent actor, operating nine of the ten largest free schools. IES results on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden.

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 24th year of operation. It continues to be defined by three strong convictions, established by the founder, Mrs. Barbara Bergstrom:

• A safe and orderly environment, where teachers can teach and students learn.
• To command the English language—the key to the world.
• High academic expectations.

Up to half of the teaching in IES schools is performed in English, by native English speaking teachers. Over 600 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, UK, USA and South Africa.

IES has shown a strong and consistent growth for a number of years. Average growth during the last ten years is 19 % per year. Turnover during the latest concluded operational year, 2015/16, was 1 807 MSEK (growth of 17 % from previous year). The queue for admission for the current and coming years had 122 000 registrations as of September 30, 2016.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap with the ticker ENG since the end of September 2016. The largest shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and foundations in the US, and IES’s founder Barbara Bergström. Other major shareholders at the time of the listing included Swedbank Robur funds, investment company Öresund, Norron Asset Management, the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, AMF Försäkring och Fonder and the Second Swedish National Pension Fund.

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