Download - The Pupil Premium How to Spend it Wisely
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The Pupil PremiumHow to Spend it Wisely
Robert CoeDirector of the Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring (CEM) and Professor of Education, Durham University
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Why are we here?
CEM aims to
Create the best assessments in the worldEmpower teachers with information for
self-evaluationPromote evidence-based practices and
policies, based on scientific evaluation
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CEM activity
The largest educational research unit in a UK university
1.1 million assessments are taken each year
More than 50% of UK secondary schools use one or more CEM system
CEM systems used in over 50 countriesLargest provider of computerised adaptive
tests outside US
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The Pupil Premium and Toolkit
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The pupil premium
Aims: o to reduce the attainment gap between the highest and lowest
achieving pupils nationallyo to increase social mobilityo to enable more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to get
to the top Universitieso to provide additional resource to schools to do this
£488 last year, £600 this year, £900 next … Performance of PP pupils reported separately in
performance tables Schools required to say how PP spent & what impact on
pupil progress
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The question
How should a school spend any ‘discretionary’
budget to achieve maximum benefits in
learning?
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Advice to schools: Up to you to decide… Initial suggestions:
o Smaller classeso One to one tuition
Does spending improve attainment?o Mixed & complex findings from researcho The Bananarama Principle: It ain’t what you do it’s the
way that you do it… Do we know some things that do work? Why have we failed to increase attainment over
30 years?
Before we started
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Summarise the evidence from meta-analysis about the impact of different strategies on learning (attainment).o As found in research studieso These are averages
Apply quality criteria to evaluations: rigorous designs only
Estimate the size of the effecto Standardised Mean Difference = ‘Months of gain’
Estimate the costs of adoptingo Information not always available
What we tried to do
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Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning
http://www.suttontrust.com/research/toolkit-of-strategies-to-improve-learning/
Now known as The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit http://www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/
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In the Toolkit
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Summaries
What is it?How effective is it?How secure is the evidence?What are the costs?How applicable is it?Further information
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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 tutoringHomework
ICT
AfL Parental involvement
Sports
Summer schools
After school
Individualised learning
Learning styles
Arts Performance pay
Teaching assistants
Smaller classes
Ability grouping
Promising
May be worth it
Notworth it
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1. Think hard about learning
2. Focus on implementation
3. Teachers really matter
4. Invest in good CPD
5. Evaluate
Top tips for improvement
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1. Think hard about learning
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Some things that are popular or widely thought to be effective are probably not worth doingo Ability grouping (setting); After-school clubs;
Teaching assistants; Smaller classes; Performance pay
Some things look ‘promising’o Effective feedback; Meta- cognitive and self
regulation strategies; Peer tutoring/peer‐assisted learning strategies; Homework
Key messages
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Does your theory of learning explain why …
Ability grouping (setting) After-school clubs Teaching assistants Smaller classes Performance pay
…do not work (or are not cost effective)?
Feedback Meta-cognitive strategies Peer tutoring
… are effective?
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Do we care about learning? Which of the following are evidence of
learning?o Students are busy: lots of work is doneo Students are engaged, interested, motivatedo Classroom is ordered, calm, under control
What do school students value most?o Social interactions & status with peerso Keeping out of troubleo Pleasing teachers: good marks, neat writing, politeo Thinking hard about really challenging problems
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Learning happens when people have
to think hard
A simple theory of learning
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2. Focus on implementation
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These strategies have been shown to be cost-effective in research studies
But when we have tried to implement evidence-based strategies we have not seen system-wide improvement
We don’t know how to get schools/teachers who are not currently doing them to do so in ways that areo True to the key principleso Feasible in real classrooms – with all their constraintso Scalable & replicableo Sustainable
Implementation
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3. Teachers really matter
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What makes most difference to how much a pupil learns1. Having a good class teacher?2. Having a good headteacher / strong leadership in
the school?3. Family income?4. Family support for learning?5. School culture / peer group valuing learning?6. Community support for the school?
What matters most?
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Individual classroom teachers account for more of the variation in students’ learning gains than any other factor
That includes factors such as expenditure, leadership behaviours, school culture, social disadvantage
Recruitment, support and retention of effective teachers must be key – along with training/development and performance management
But how do we know who the really effective teachers are?o Colleagues observing lessons?o Pupils’ test scores?o Pupils’ ratings?o Parents’ ratings?o Ofsted ratings?o Colleagues (including senior managers) perceptions?
Identifying the best teachers
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How do you make a typical teacher slightly better?
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4. Invest in good CPD
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How do we get students to learn hard things?
Eg Place value Persuasive
writing Music
composition Balancing
chemical equations
• Explain what they should do• Demonstrate it• Get them to do it (with
gradually reducing support)• Provide feedback • Get them to practice until it is
secure
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How do we get teachers to learn hard things?
Eg Using formative
assessment Assertive
discipline How to teach
algebra
• Explain what they should do
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This slide is intentionally blank
What do we know about what makes CPD effective?
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Intense: at least 15 hours, preferably 50 Sustained: over at least two terms Content focus: on teachers’ knowledge of
subject content & how students learn it Active: opportunities to try it out & discuss Supported: external feedback and
networks to improve and sustain Evidence based: promotes strategies
supported by robust evaluation evidence
What (probably) makes CPD effective?
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5. Evaluate
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Wait for a bad year and/or choose a bad school to start with. Things can only get better.
Take on any initiative, and ask everyone who put effort into it whether they feel it worked. No-one wants to feel their effort was wasted.
Define ‘improvement’ in terms of perceptions and ratings of teachers. DO NOT conduct any proper assessments – they may disappoint.
Only study schools or teachers that recognise a problem and are prepared to take on an initiative. They’ll probably improve whatever you do.
Faking ‘school improvement’ (1)
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Conduct some kind of evaluation, but don’t let the design be too good – poor quality evaluations are much more likely to show positive results.
If any improvement occurs in any aspect of performance, focus attention on that rather than on any areas or schools that have not improved or got worse (don’t mention them!).
Put some effort into marketing and presentation of the school. Once you start to recruit better students, things will improve.
Faking ‘school improvement’ (2)
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We are sure this works This is so important we need it to work Everyone is working really hard and fully committed to this Evaluating would be a lot of work We don’t have the data to be able to evaluate We don’t know how to evaluate We can’t do a really good evaluation, so what is the point of
doing it badly? We do happy sheets and ask people what they thought of it;
isn’t that enough? You can’t do randomised trials in education What works is different in different schools or contexts
Bad reasons not to evaluate
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1. Think hard about learning
2. Focus on implementation
3. Teachers really matter
4. Invest in good CPD
5. Evaluate
Top tips for improvement
