Closing the attainment gap and the role of the pupil premium

Robert Hill Consulting

Closing the attainment gap and the role of the pupil premium

Advice for school governors and leaders


The context – attainment and deprivation

• Pupil progress is affected by factors within and outside school

• There is a strong correlation between a student’s socio-economic background and their attainment

• But there are also schools that are breaking the deprivation link

• So schools should focus on those issues that are within their control


The link between deprivation and attainment

Each 16 year-old is assigned a point score for their GCSE passes based on 8 points for an A* down to 1 for a G. A student’s score for English, maths and their three best other subjects is then added together: i.e. five As is 40 points and five Gs come to 5.Source: Chris Cook FT Blog 05/08/2012


FSM and pupil performance by school

Each 16 year-old is assigned a point score for their GCSE passes based on 8 points for an A* down to 1 for a G. A student’s score for English, maths and their three best other subjects is then added together: i.e. five As is 40 points and five Gs come to 5.Source: Chris Cook FT Blog 18/01/2013

All pupils

FSM pupils

National average

Floor target


The attainment gap is big and rises as pupils move through the school system

Source: DfE Statistical First Releases 43/2013, 51/2013 and 05/2014 and State of the Nation 2013: social mobility and child poverty and in Great Britain 2013, Social Mobility and Child Poverty CommissionNote: Foundation Years data relates to children in the 30% most deprived Super Output Areas and Key Stage 5 data is for 2012


Other key features of the attainment gap

• FSM attainment is rising but the gap has only narrowed slightly over the past few years – more in primary than secondary

• The smallest gaps tend to be in schools with high or low FSM

• There are big variations in FSM performance

– Between regions

– Between local local authorities

– Within local authorities


Reasons to focus on this agenda: funding

• Pupil Premium for ‘Ever 6 FSM’ pupils

– Rising to £1,300 for primary pupils, £935 for secondary pupils and £1,900 for looked after children from April 2014

• £50 million to secondary schools for summer schools for year 7 incomers that need extra support

• £500 per year 7 pupil who is below level 4 in reading and/or maths for literacy and numeracy catch-up


Reasons to focus on this agenda: accountability • Performance tables include:

– Highest and lowest performers

– FSM pupils and gap on rolling three year basis

– Progress of all pupils

• Ofsted inspection framework– Progress and performance of FSM

– Use and impact of Pupil Premium funding

– Not ‘outstanding’ unless disadvantaged making good progress

– Review for RI schools with concerns about attainment of disadvantaged pupils


An important caveat

• Yes, FSM is a far from perfect proxy for deprivation

• But it is the measure the government is using

FSM

Level of parental education

IDACI


A model for action

Establish a strong culture

of high expectations

and achievement for

all pupils


Creating a high expectations culture

Yes, you can!

• Deprivation and poverty cannot be an excuse to limit ambition or achievement

“Outstanding schools have strong values and high expectations that are applied consistently and never relaxed. Such schools are highly inclusive, having complete regard for the educational progress, personal development and well-being of every student”

Source: Ofsted, 2009, Twelve outstanding secondary schools: excelling against the odds


Raising expectations through a growth mindset Fixed mindset – intelligence is static

Growth mindset – intelligence can be developed

Leads to a desire to ‘look smart’ and so leads to a tendency to:

Leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to:

• Avoid challenges • Embrace challenges

• Give up easily when presented with challenges

• Persevere despite obstacles

• See effort as useless • See effort as a path to mastery

• Ignore useful feedback • Learn from criticism

• Be threatened by others’ success

• Be inspired by others’ success

Source: John Clarke based on Carol Dweck, Mindset: how you can grow you potential


Identify the performance and progress of FSM pupils

• Use school’s data system to analyse progress of FSM pupils

– By subject and by teacher

– Within cohorts

– Between cohorts

– By reference to prior attainment and expected levels of progress

– By comparison with schools with similar levels of FSM

– By comparison with top performing schools with similar levels of FSM


Analyse and understand the issues blocking progress

• Discuss data with: – Staff

– Students – surveys and student voice

– Parents

• Identify specific obstacles to progress:– Specific subjects

– Areas of learning within specific subjects

– Inappropriate curriculum

– Quality of teaching

– Quality of feedback & assessment for learning


BehaviourAt least three times

more likely to be permanently

excluded and to have unauthorised

absenceCultural and social capital

Less likely to have the experiences

and support available to other

students

TeachingMore likely to

experience poorer quality of teaching

SettingMore likely to be allocated to low

groups than similarly attaining but non-FSM

pupils

TurbulenceMore likely to

change school and less likely to make

successful transitions at Key

Stages

Key skillsMore likely to

have problems with literacy and

numeracy

Curriculum Less likely to follow an appropriate curriculum and to make informed decisions on subject

choices and qualification routes

Common school-related

characteristics of FSM students

SENTwice as likely to have a statement

School-related characteristics of FSM students

Source: Adapted from Rea et al, 2011 and based on DCSF, 2009 and analysis of DfE 2011 performance tables for Key Stage 2


Review and identify potential interventions

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

• Build on what is known to work

• Some useful sources of information:

– DfE survey

– National College report: System leadership: does school-to-school support close the gap

– Education Endowment Fund (EEF) toolkit

– Ofsted


DfE survey* – some headlines

• Most schools target all disadvantaged pupils – A minority target specific groups or individuals – most

commonly those with low attainment or not making good progress

• Schools offer a range of support:– Inside the classroom: 1-2-1 tutoring, small group teaching,

extra staff (teachers, TAs, learning mentors,)

– Outside the classroom: trips, out of hours activities, parental support and family support workers

• Schools think they are using effective interventions– A Sutton Trust survey of 1,600 teachers/school leaders found

that two of the cheapest and most effective ways of raising attainment – student feedback and peer-to-peer tutoring – weren’t commonly used*https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-pupil-premium


Potential interventions – National College

TARGETED STRATEGIES FOR PUPILS

ELIGIBLE FOR FSM

…which specifically benefit FSM

pupils

STRATEGIES FOR UNDER-PERFORMING

PUPILS …which benefit FSM and other under-achieving

pupils

WHOLE SCHOOL STRATEGIES

...which benefit all pupils

Source: Rea et al, National College 2011


Potential interventions – EEF toolkit

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


It’s all about the quality of the teaching


Successful interventions - Ofsted• PP funding ring-fenced for target group

• Maintained high expectations of target group

• Analysed which pupils were under-achieving + why

• Used evidence to allocate funding to big-impact strategies

• High quality teaching, not interventions to compensate for poor teaching

• Able to demonstrate impact – using achievement data to check interventions and make adjustments

• Highly trained support staff and teachers knowing which pupils eligible for PP

• Senior leader with oversight of PP spend

• Governors involvedhttp://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium-how-schools-are-spending-funding-successfully-maximise-achievement


Less effective interventions – Ofsted• Lack of clarity about intended impact of PP

spending

• Funding spent on teaching assistants, with little impact and poor performance management

• Poor monitoring and no clear audit trail

• Focus on threshold pupils, so more able under-achieved

• PP spending not linked to school development plan

• Poor performance comparisons, thus lowering expectations

• Pastoral work not focused on desired outcomes for PP pupils

• Governors not involved in PP spending decisions

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium-how-schools-are-spending-funding-successfully-maximise-achievement


Make it personal


Set success criteria

• Identify the progress that pupils are projected to make without any intervention

• Consider what progress students might be expected to achieve as a result of the intervention(s)

• Discuss with staff, students and parents

• Agree goals or targets for impact of interventions

• Put in place systems for tracking progress on a real time basis


Implement interventions

• Identify a member of the leadership team to have overall responsibility

• Allow time to plan

• Plan and implement collaboratively

• Involve pupils

• Explain to staff not directly involved

• Consider working and learning with another school

• Plan use of Pupil Premium


Review progress

• Measure progress

• Gather feedback

• Identify what has not worked as well as what has been successful

• Document lessons learned

• Decide whether to:

– Continue but refine intervention(s)

– And/or extend or expand intervention(s)

– And/or target another cohort of pupils


Some evaluation tools

• Pupil voice – to help assess motivation, engagement and wellbeing

• Attendance, behaviour, homework completion

• Progress with mastering key skills or overcoming learning challenges

• APS scores, pupil books and teachers’ marking/feedback

• Test papers and outcomes


Mainstream the strategy

• SEF

• School development plan

• Professional development

• Lesson observation

• Pupil progress tracking

• Performance appraisal

• Governor reviews

• Ofsted readiness

“Schools that use the Pupil Premium effectively ensure that all day-to-day teaching meets the needs of each learner, rather than relying on interventions to compensate for teaching that is less than good”Ofsted


Things to watch out for

Positive development in staff capacity

Better use of data Big improvement in

teaching and learning Improved outcomes


Things to watch out for

Positive development in staff capacityBetter use of dataBig improvement in teaching and learningImproved outcomes

Cynicism at the startLack of rigourInsufficient preparationExpecting too much too quickly


A checklist for school leaders and governors


A task

Difficult

Easy

Small benefit

Large benefit

Identify actions that will support closing gaps in attainment in your school – assessing ideas for ease of achieving and potential benefit – and locate them in the grid below

Closing the attainment gap and the role of the pupil premium

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