A method for comparing a characteristic of a set of developing entities comprises; following an assessment of a characteristic at a particular development stage, recording a discrete grade of each entity; converting each grade to a normalised value by means of a conversion function; and calculating an average of the normalised values. This average value is then compared to a normalised value of an acceptable grade for that development stage, resulting in a difference value being evaluated and outputted. Alternatively, the average value is compared to the average of normalised values corresponding to grades of the same set of entities at a second later development stage, leading to another difference value being evaluated and outputted. In particular, the entities may be students, where the characteristic is ability in an academic subject and the grades are those achieved in a subject after a test or an exam. The normalised values might be in a universal scale composed of numerical identifiers. This method compares the attainment or progress of a group of students against an acceptable level or against an earlier level achieved by the same students, and the normalised values allow comparison even if different grading systems are used.
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