Nadia Siddiqui

Accelerated Reader as a literacy catch-up intervention during primary to secondary school transition phase

This paper describes an evaluation of an internet-based reading programme called Accelerated Reader (AR), which is widely used in UK schools and worldwide. AR is a whole-group reading management and monitoring programme that aims to stimulate the habit of independent reading among primary and secondary age pupils. The evaluation involved 349 pupils in Year 7 who had not achieved secure National Curriculum Level 4 in their Key Stage 2 results for English, randomised to two groups. The intervention group of 166 pupils was exposed to AR for 20 weeks, after which they recorded higher literacy scores in the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) post-test than the control group of 183 pupils (“effect” size of +0.24). The schools led the organisation and implementation of the intervention, and also conducted most elements of the evaluation, with advice from an expert external evaluation team. The process evaluation suggests that these schools were very capable of conducting evaluations of their own practice, given appropriate guidance.

An evaluation of Fresh Start as a catch-up intervention: a trial conducted by teachers

Abstract This paper describes a randomised controlled trial conducted with 10 secondary schools in England to evaluate the impact and feasibility of Fresh Start as an intervention to help new entrants with low prior literacy. Fresh Start is a synthetic phonics programme for small groups of pupils, here implemented three times per week over 22 weeks. The intervention was led by the schools themselves and assessed in cooperation with the independent evaluators. A group of 433 year 7 pupils (first year of secondary school) were identified by schools as having literacy attainment below “secure” KS2 level 4, and individually randomised to a treatment group or a waiting-list control. The pupils were assessed via GL’s New Group Reading Test. Missing data at pre- and post-test amounted to 3% of the total. The overall “effect” size in terms of gain scores from pre- to post-test was +0.24, and this was repeated in a sub-group analysis involving only FSM-eligible pupils. However, there was some imbalance between the two groups at the outset, and this must lead to a slight caution about the findings, and to some doubts about whether one or more schools unwittingly subverted the randomisation. Other than this, the aggregated trial shows that schools can conduct evaluations of their own interventions with firm guidance from experts, and under favourable conditions such as individual randomisation and lack of extended involvement by developers with a conflict of interests.

Teachers’ use of research evidence in practice: a pilot study of feedback to enhance learning

Abstract Background: There is worldwide interest in improving the effectiveness of teachers and teaching. This paper considers two strands of that interest. It revisits the impact of using enhanced feedback from teachers to pupils as a way of improving attainment, and it looks at the feasibility of teachers using research evidence to create their own interventions. Current evidence on the causal impact of effective feedback on learning is unclear: many studies have mixed results, are small in scale, lack randomisation or are not conducted in real classroom conditions. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of schools as they engage with research evidence to support their own enquiry into the effectiveness of feedback in the classroom. Research design: This study took place over one academic year, involving nine treatment schools in one local authority. The study involved teachers themselves using research findings to create an intervention, which took, as its focus, enhanced feedback in the classroom. Test results from these schools were compared to the results in 5 participating comparator schools, to the 49 other schools in the borough and to all state-funded primary schools in England. Results: Although teachers showed that they could engage with research evidence, the study indicated that the process was complex in practice. In addition, the independent impact evaluation suggested that enhanced feedback in itself does not necessarily lead to improved pupil test performance. Discussion and conclusions: The paper considers some of the challenges faced by teachers as they attempted to use research evidence, and discusses implications for schools wishing to use research evidence in practice. The findings of the study suggest that it may be feasible for practitioners to use research evidence to inform their own practice. However, to do it well would require clearer guidance, professional development and modelling of any strategies suggested. These findings have implications for policy on teacher development, and for the research community to make research outputs more comprehensible and accessible to research users.

Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE

Abstract Universities are increasingly making decisions about undergraduate admissions with reference to contextual indicators to identify whether an applicant comes from a disadvantaged family, neighbourhood or school environment. However, the indicators used are often chosen because they are readily available, without consideration of the quality of possible alternatives. A review of existing research literature to assess potential contextual indicators yielded around 120,000 reports, and 28 categories of indicators. Each indicator was assessed on the basis of existing evidence concerning its relevance, reach, availability, accuracy, reliability and completeness. Many possible indicators are not readily available, or accurate enough for use in practice. Indicators concerning individual circumstances are generally safer than area-based or school characteristics. There are some indicators for very small categories that can be used relatively un-problematically as long as the data can be made available at time of candidate selection. None of these is a solution to the more general issue of contextualised admissions. Having a disability or special educational need is clearly linked to lower attainment and participation but not for all categories. The most suitable general indicator is eligibility for free school meals (FSM), based on the number of years an applicant has been known to be FSM-eligible.

Grammar schools in England : a new analysis of social segregation and academic outcomes.

Abstract The UK government is planning to increase the number of pupils attending state-funded selective grammar schools, claiming that this will assist overall standards, reduce the poverty attainment gap and so aid social mobility. Using the full 2015 cohort of pupils in England, this article shows how the pupils attending grammar schools are stratified in terms of chronic poverty, ethnicity, language, special educational needs and even precise age within their year group. This kind of clustering of relative advantage is potentially dangerous for society. The article derives measures of chronic poverty and local socio-economic status segregation between schools, and uses these to show that the results from grammar schools are no better than expected, once these differences are accounted for. There is no evidence base for a policy of increasing selection, and so there are implications for early selection policies worldwide. The UK government should consider phasing the existing selective schools out.

What works and what fails? Evidence from seven popular literacy ‘catch-up’ schemes for the transition to secondary school in England

Abstract There are concerns that too many young people, from disadvantaged backgrounds, are moving into secondary education in the UK, and elsewhere, without the necessary literacy skills to make progress with the wider secondary school curriculum. A large number of interventions have been proposed to reduce this poverty gradient. This paper summarises the evidence from randomised controlled trials of seven popular interventions, giving a different comparative perspective to individual reports, and permitting more detail than a wider review. Of these, it shows that Switch-on Reading (Reading Recovery) and Accelerated Reader, for example, are currently the most promising. And that summer schools and the use of generic literacy software are the least successful and may even harm pupil progress. The way in which the evidence is assessed in this paper suggests a way forward for practitioners and policy-makers navigating the evidence in their areas of interest. There is also evidence that practitioners should be able to conduct robust evaluations of their own with only minimal support, which could lead to a revolution in school improvement. The combined results suggest that ‘soft’ evaluations may be worse than just a waste of time and money, and that theoretical explanations might appear satisfying to readers but are largely unnecessary when assessing ‘what works’ in education.

Can "Philosophy for Children" Improve Primary School Attainment?.

There are tensions within formal education between imparting knowledge and the development of skills for handling that knowledge. In the primary school sector, the latter can also be squeezed out of the curriculum by a focus on basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. What happens when an explicit attempt is made to develop young childrens reasoning—both in terms of their apparent cognitive abilities and their basic skills? This paper reports an independent evaluation of an in-class intervention called ‘Philosophy for Children’ (P4C), after just over one year of schooling. The intervention aims to help children become more willing and able to question, reason, construct arguments and collaborate with others. A group of 48 volunteer schools were randomised to receive P4C (22 schools) or act as a control for one year (26). This paper reports the CAT results for all pupils in years 4 and 5 initially, and the Key Stage 2 attainment in English and Maths for those starting in year 5. There was no school dropout. Individual attrition from a total of 3,159 pupils was around 11 percent—roughly equal between groups. There were small positive ‘effect’ sizes in favour of the P4C group in progress in reading (+0.12) and maths (+0.10), and even smaller perhaps negligible improvements in CAT scores (+0.07) and writing (+0.03). The results for the most disadvantaged (free school eligible) pupils were larger for attainment (+0.29 in reading, +0.17 writing and +0.20 maths), but not for CATs (–0.02). Observations and interviews suggest that the intervention was generally enjoyable and thought to be beneficial for pupil confidence. Our conclusion is that, for those wishing to improve attainment outcomes in the short term, an emphasis on developing reasoning is promising, especially for the poorest students, but perhaps not the most effective way forward. However, for those who value reasoning for its own sake, this evaluation demonstrates that using curriculum time in this way does not damage attainment (and may well enhance it and reduce the poverty gradient in attainment), and so suggests that something like P4C is an appropriate educational approach.

Socio-economic segregation of disadvantaged children between schools in Pakistan: comparing the state and private sector

Abstract The distribution of children in different school-types and regions in Pakistan suggests that access and opportunities in education are not evenly accessible for many children. Segregation at school level is an important concern for equity and social justice because the adverse effects of segregation increase the pre-existing gap in opportunities between rich and poor, preventing the disadvantaged children from equal access to better life and success opportunities. This paper presents an analysis of segregation by poverty and pupil performance between schools, with a comparison of private and government schools in Pakistan. The data obtained for this study is from the Annual Status of Education Report 2014 survey of households and schools. The analysis includes 27,979 children aged 5–16 years for whom the information could be linked with their schools, and parents’ socio-economic status. Segregation levels have been assessed using the Gorard Segregation Index. The results show that segregation by academic performance is higher than segregation by poverty, and segregation by poverty is higher in the private sector compared to government schools, whereas segregation by performance is greater in the government schools. A regional level analysis shows that segregation in urban areas is higher in both school types compared to rural areas. In addition to insisting on full attendance for children of school age, the government should work towards decreasing segregation in the state sector, perhaps also involving an increase in the number of schools maintained, and therefore reducing the need for cheap private provision.

Can programmes like Philosophy for Children help schools to look beyond academic attainment

Abstract Schools are places where children can learn behaviour, skills and attitudes that have lifelong relevance. In England, despite the continuing emphasis on attainment, there are clear moves to consider also the wider and non-cognitive outcomes of schooling – such as pupils’ development of trust, critical thinking and civic-mindedness. However, there is little existing evidence on how such non-cognitive outcomes can be improved through school-based interventions. This paper presents findings from a quasi-experimental design using 2722 pupils in 42 primary schools. A treatment group of schools participated in Philosophy for Children (P4C) for 18 months, whereas the other group of schools was a clean control. The outcomes compared were pupil self-reports with an instrument designed to assess “social and communication skills”, “teamwork and resilience” and “empathy” and a number of other such constructs. Post-intervention comparisons show that pupils who received the P4C intervention were ahead of their counterparts in the comparison schools, and this was generally more so for those pupils living in relative poverty (FSM-eligible). Teachers reported that positive effects could be observed in pupils’ confidence in questioning and reasoning, and pupils generally reported that they enjoyed the intervention. However, the differences are small, and it is not clear that the two groups were comparable at the outset. Nevertheless, there is promise that targeted school-based intervention such as P4C can improve pupils’ non-cognitive outcomes, and there are lessons for how to conduct such studies and how to assess the wider outcomes of schooling.

How Can Contextualised Admissions Widen Participation

As with many countries, the UK is attempting to allow wider participation in higher education for all social groups. UK universities are increasingly making decisions about undergraduate admissions with reference to contextual indicators which are intended to identify whether or not an applicant comes from a disadvantaged family, neighbourhood or school environment. However, the indicators used are often chosen because they are readily available, without much consideration of the possible alternatives. This chapter suggests which of the potential contextual indicators are worth pursuing and which are not of high enough quality or might lead to greater injustice. It is based on a large systematic review of prior international evidence, and individual-level student statistics for all students in England from 2006 onwards.