Using evidence to raise the attainment of children facing disadvantage

James Richardson Senior Analyst, Education Endowment Foundation

1st April 2014

james.richardson@eefoundation.org.uk www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

@EducEndowFoundn

Introduction

• The EEF is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.

• In 2011 the Education Endowment Foundation was set up by Sutton Trust as lead charity in partnership with the Impetus Trust. The EEF is funded by a Department for Education grant of £125m and will spend over £200m over its fifteen year lifespan.

• In 2013, the EEF was named with The Sutton Trust as the government-designated ‘What Works’ centre for improving education outcomes for school-aged children.

Key Stage 2: Top performers

• There are 2568 schools (31% of our data set) in which the average proportion of FSM pupils achieving Level 4 in English and Maths exceeds the national average of all pupils (79%). These are schools above the horizontal blue line in the graph.

• They come from across the spectrum of disadvantage (ranging from 1% FSM intake to 70%) and include schools of all types, sizes, regions, intakes etc.

3Note: this analysis excludes independent, special and selective schools

There are 428 secondary schools in which the average GCSE point score of FSM pupils exceeds the national average for all pupils (276.7 points).

These top performing schools come from across the spectrum of disadvantage (ranging from 1% FSM school intake to 61%).

FSM pupils in schools with a low and high proportions of FSM students score higher than schools in between.

4

The imperative: Key Stage 4 top performers

We believe that more evidence can help…

…but what does it mean for you?

2,300 schools participating

in projects

502,000 pupils involved in EEF projects

£220m

estimated spend over

lifetime of the EEF

72 projects

funded to date

5

The EEF approach

Summarise the existing evidence

Make grants

Evaluate projects

Share and promote

the use of evidence

The EEF-Sutton Trust Teaching and Learning Toolkit

• The Toolkit is an accessible, teacher-friendly summary of educational research

• Practice focused: giving schools the information they need to make informed decisions and narrow the gap

• Based on meta-analyses provided by Durham University

http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

A Pupil Premium Scenario – Struggling Readers

What do you decide to spend the money on?How do you make the most of that investment?

Number on Roll %FSM Pupil Premium Allocation

300 20% £78,000

Parents Class size reduction

Classroom teacher

One to one tuition SENCO

Employ more Teaching Assistants

The Toolkit is a starting point for making decisions

Overview of value for money

Cost per pupil

Effe

ct S

ize

(mon

ths

gain

)

£00

10

£1000

Feedback

Meta-cognitive

Peer tutoring Pre-school

1-1 tutoringHomeworkICTOutdoor

learning

Parental involvement

Sports

Summer schools

After school

Individualised learning

Learning styles

ArtsPerformance

pay

Teaching assistants

Smaller classes

Ability grouping

Promising

May be worth it

Requires careful consideration

Phonics

Independent learning

Three rules of thumb

1. Use the evidence as a starting point for discussion

2. Dig deeper into what the evidence actually says

3. Understand the ‘active ingredients’ of implementation

EEF Projects

We are working to fund, develop and evaluate projects that:

• Build on existing evidence.

• Will generate significant new understanding of what works.

• Can be replicated cost effectively if proven to work.

Examples: Effective use of teaching assistants, the impact of learning to play chess, the use of iPads in schools

Mind the Gap

Run by Campaign for Learning

• Trial in 40 schools • Working with Year 4 pupils and parents to test

the impact of a learning to learn approach • 10 hours of workshops in a year • Independent evaluation by National Institute for

Economic and Social Research • Observations and interviews to inform scale up

Completed EEF Projects: February 2014

Switch On Reading

• One to one programme delivered by teaching assistants over a 10 week period

• Delivered to Year 7 students who did not achieve Level 4 at KS2

Group Number of pupils

Effect size*Estimated months’ progress

All pupils 308 +0.24 +3

Lower attainers

156 +0.39 +5

FSM-eligible 98 +0.36 +4

SEN reported 225 +0.31 +4

Catch Up Numeracy

• One to one intervention with children in Years 2 to 6 who are struggling with numeracy

• Two 15 minute sessions with TAs per week for 30 weeks

GroupNumber of

pupilsEffect size

Estimated months’ progress

Catch Up Numeracy vs. control

108 +0.21 +3

Equivalent time one to one support vs.

control102 +0.27 +4

What have we learned?

• Teaching assistants, given the right support and training, can make a significant contribution to pupil attainment

• Schools should take care to understand how specific programmes are having an impact in their school.

• Implementation matters: Many educational interventions are ‘fragile’. Evaluation is critical.

Evidence 4 Impact Database

Produced by the Institute for Effective Education, University of York. A database of widely used interventions on the evidence on their effectiveness.

Closing reflections

Taking part in future EEF research:

james.richardson@eefoundation.org.uk

2,300 schools participating

in projects

502,000 pupils involved in EEF projects

72 projects

funded to date