General FAQs
1. How much does a product / service cost?
2. How does your software licensing work?
3. Can I pay for my three year on-line order up front?
4. Do you offer a regional site license for LEAs?
5. Do you offer discounts?
6. How do I purchase P.A.S.S.?
7. What's the time scale on delivery once I place an order?
8. What's the difference between software and web-based auditing?
9. What's involved in completing a whole school audit?
10. How long does the entire whole school audit process take?
11. What does a "standard" whole school report consist of?
12. Can the report be "customised" in any way?
13. Can I talk to some of your clients who actually use your systems?
14. I do not feel I have enough information to make a final purchasing decision. What should I do?
15. Will you be releasing any further P.A.S.S. products?
16. How do I keep my product up to date?
17. Are you registered for data protection?
18. How often would you recommend re-assessing pupils?
19. Is there a particular time of year best suited to carrying out a P.A.S.S. audit?
20. My specific question is not covered in this list. What do I do now?
How much does a product / service cost?
All information relating to costs and quotations can be found here. Remember we are approved through the DfES Curriculum On-line scheme so you may be able to purchase P.A.S.S. using e-Learning credits rather than directly from school budget.
How does your software licensing work?
Licences are renewed annually and are priced at approximately 15% of the product cost. Licence renewals apply only to P.A.S.S. software. We have a range of packages to suit all needs. If you wish to request an information pack including our most up-to-date price and product list, including license renewals, click here.
Can I pay for my three year on-line order up front as a single instalment?
Yes, of course. However, in many ways the majority of our school-based clients find it easier to spread payments over the three years (or indeed 5 years, for longer term contracts) in equal instalments - especially given with the new 3 year school budgetary arrangements.
Do you offer a regional site license for LEAs?
We do. There are significant economies of scale in purchasing PASS at an authority-wide level. For further information contact W3 INSIGHTS to arrange a suitable time for an in-depth consultation and tailored quotation.
We offer price incentives on training and consultation for larger scale contracts (e.g. LEA wide agreements) and, indeed, under such circumstances may be prepared to put forward attractive terms for more regionally based benchmarking, too.
As a company, irrespective of size of client account, we never discount on product prices. This is because we think our portfolio is amongst the most competitively priced range of unique electronic assessment instruments in the marketplace. Adjusting prices for larger clients leaves our smaller customers at a disadvantage. Also, given the quality of what we offer, from a professional point of view, we do not feel it is appropriate to enter into price haggling. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Simply click here and follow the instructions.
What's the time scale on delivery once I place an order?
We will usually despatch goods with an invoice on receipt of your order unless to deliver within the next 24-48 hours would mean there was no-one available in your organisation to receive the goods.
One example of such a time might be over school holidays. In such circumstances we always contact our clients at the time to discuss the best way to send through your order.
With orders for on-line assessment you could even potentially begin assessing students the same day that you receive our "Welcome Pack"!
What's the difference between software and web-based auditing?
The main differences are described here.
In terms of cost for whole school auditing, network software is the more expensive option. You need to build in to your considerations the additional costs for license renewals and report writing - potentially additional time / resourcing associated with installation too!
The main difference is that software assessment gives you potential access, with repeat auditing to Levels 1,2,3 & 4 of data analysis. In-line auditing provides Level 2, 3 & 4 information - although you can easily access Level 1 also (See "How Tos").
What's involved in completing a whole school audit?
The process is slightly different for software and web enabled solutions.
Software
1. Install the software on your server following our installation guidance closely.
2. Run the assessment using the supplied administration script (this takes, on average around 15 minutes per student so on a network of, for example, 100 machines you can simultaneously assess 100 students in around 15 minutes!).
3. E-mail your server database file through to us and we will turn around your whole school and at risk profiling analyses within five working days.Online Assessment
A similar process, described fully here.
How long does the entire whole school audit process take?
With a degree of forward planning regarding access to your organisation's ICT Suite it is quite possible to complete the entire assessment of around 1200 students in a fortnight (including report writing)!
On average it takes a little longer-perhaps 4-6 weeks without any major disruption to timetabling/scheduling.
A primary school can usually complete their auditing in around 2 weeks.
What does a "standard" whole school report consist of?
A "standard" primary (KS2) or secondary school (KS3-4) report will usually include the following:
Overall learner climate profile (e.g. the collated scores for the 9 P.A.S.S. factors).
Gender analysis.
Analysis by ethnic grouping.
Analysis by year group.
Combined analysis of these demographic variables e.g. Year 4 Indian girls vs Year 6 white boys etc
Individual student at risk profiles for every respondent.
For F.E. audits we include some analysis of Programmes of Study also.
An average primary school report may run to 40 pages. An average secondary school - up to 90 pages. All of these profiles include national benchmarks for comparison.
An overview of the levels of data analysis in attitude profiling can be found here.
Can the report be "customised" in any way?
Absolutely. Many reports based on "repeat auditing", for example, will include Level 4 longitudinal analysis to show attitude change within an organisation over time.
However some clients now build in some additional "bespoke" attitude profiling at nominal additional cost. Examples include:
Profiling the attitudes of students who take free school meals vs those that don't.
"Split site" analysis to compare the learner climate where schools teach pupils in more than one location.
Church vs non-church feeder primary school impact on KS3 transfer.
Within reason, we can filter attitude profiling data within our systems to completely reflect the diversity of hypotheses of our clients!
Can I talk to some of your clients who actually use your systems?
Of course. We have many clients who would be willing to talk to you about our products.
In the first instance phone us for a discussion and we will put you in touch with a customer that most closely matches your own purchasing requirements.
As a courtesy to our existing customers, we will usually phone them first and establish an optimal time for your subsequent meeting or discussion.
I do not feel I have enough information to make a final purchasing decision. What should I do?
Download as many resources from our web site as you wish.
Request an additional information pack with up-to-date product and price list.
Talk to us as often as you like or our existing customers.
Request a free seminar.
Will you be releasing any further P.A.S.S. products?
Yes. W3 Insights is launching new products and toolkits to further support P.A.S.S. auditing all the time. You will always be able to find the latest information about new additions to our range by re-visiting our website for all the latest news.
How do I keep my product up to date?
Customers who subscribe to our online services will automatically have access to the latest benchmarks as these will be adjusted on our server prior to your report writing in line with any new standardisation we undertake.
The same applies to our software users for Levels 2, 3 and 4. Individual student profiling (Level 1), generated dynamically on your local organisation's server, will be updated with a software patch file which we will distribute to you as a matter of course as part of any re-standardisation.
Are you registered for data protection?
Yes. We are registered under the Data Protection Act. Our Data Protection Reg. No. is Z1245006. All of our online data processing is handled via a secure server, also.
How often would you recommend re-assessing pupils?
Online whole school auditing is best undertaken once a year. However, OFSTED cites more frequent P.A.S.S. monitoring and tracking of pupils most “at risk” to be an example of “outstanding practice”. As a psychometric instrument, PA.S.S. can support re-assessment of the same pupil across an intervening period as little as 10-12 weeks. In such circumstances the first assessment will not invalidate the second. Many schools adopt a “hybrid” model of assessment using Web systems for whole school measurement and standalone software for individualised more frequent monitoring and tracking. Further details can be found on our web site by clicking here.
Is there a particular time of year best suited to carrying out a P.A.S.S. audit?
Not really. Standardisation includes stratified random sampling throughout the school calendar, therefore so long as you avoid any particularly “extreme” times in the school year (e.g. for a primary school, “Nativity week”) there shouldn’t be any problem. Clearly if you intend to repeat and compare measurements it’s a good idea to roughly replicate each annual audit with respect to the same half term assessment cycle each year. Your choice of when to assess is really down to your preferred underlying hypotheses or concerns within the local setting.
My specific question is not covered in this list. What do I do now?
We try to keep these sections up to date and add answers to your ongoing frequently asked questions. If you don’t find what you’re looking for there, please e-mail or phone. We will always endeavour to answer your specific query as soon as possible.
W3 Insights Assessment Instruments are widely used in more than 100 Local Authorities of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales.
It is estimated that the PASS system alone has already made a difference to the lives of over 1,500,000 young people!
