Study title

United Kingdom

Organization

An analysis of national assessment and examination data sets on primary and secondary school performance was used to identify schools that were effective in their value added results (which take account of pupils’ prior attainment and background characteristics) and also showed significant improvement in raw results or stable high attainment over at least the previous three consecutive years under the leadership of the same principal. The analyses were based on relevant published data and key indicators, including both “value added” measures of pupil progress based on multilevel statistical analyses, combined with important accountability indicators such as the percentage of pupils achieving national performance benchmarks in Key Stage 2 assessments (age 11), or at Key Stage 4 in public GCSE examinations (age 16). Approximately a third of the secondary (37 per cent) schools in England for which national data were available were classified as meeting our criteria as more effective/improved in terms of value added performance and changes in pupil attainment over a course of three years. The questionnaire survey was conducted for principals and key staff (fiver per school at secondary level) amongst the sample schools. The response rate for secondary key staff at the questionnaire/individual level was 20% and at the school level was 34%.We are the data owners of this previously government funded research project. Professor Christopher Day was the Principal Investigator of the project and I was leading the survey strand with Professor Pam Sammons who was an External Consultant for this ESRC project.