Academy schools and pupil performance

Stephen Machin and Joan Wilson present the first evaluation of the impact of academy schools on pupils' performance.

The Mobility of English School Children

In this paper we examine links between pupil mobility and pupil and school characteristics at all levels of compulsory schooling in England. We derive measures of mobility from two academic years of the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) data, a unique national administrative pupil level longitudinal data source. Our findings suggest that mobile pupils are more socially disadvantaged than non-mobile pupils and are significantly less likely to have a good prior education record. Moreover, we find that pupils are less likely to move if the school they attend has good average performance levels. Finally, when children move school, they are more likely to end up in a school with better Key Stage performance than the one they left, but this improvement is significantly more marked for children from better off backgrounds.School children, mobility

The effect of a founding International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme on participating seventh grade students\u27 achievement, behavior, extra-curricular involvement, and perceptions of life skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a founding International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) on participating 7th-grade students\u27 achievement, behavior, extra-curricular involvement, and perceptions of life skills compared to 7th-grade students\u27 completing the same school\u27s standard of care traditional academic program (TAP). The study analyzed data of IBMYP and TAP students to determine if the IBMYP has significantly impacted student outcomes. Following two consecutive years of program participation IBMYP students (n = 30) demonstrated a significant pretest-posttest improvement on norm-referenced achievement test math scores but their measured language and reading achievement test scores remained consistent over this same time period. TAP students (n = 30) demonstrated no significant math, language, and reading pretest-posttest gain on norm-referenced achievement tests. IBMYP students\u27 math, language, and reading norm-referenced achievement test scores were statistically significantly greater than their TAP peers on all Posttest-Posttest comparisons. On locally developed criterion-referenced tests, both groups showed significant pretest-posttest gains in math, and the IBMYP students also showed significant gains in reading. In posttest-posttest comparisons, IBMYP students\u27 scores were statistically significantly greater on each of the test comparisons. There were no significant differences between the groups in student absence, or in self-perceptions of student life skills, but there was a significantly higher amount of extra-curricular involvement among IBMYP students. In light of the study results, local policy makers should consider expansion of the program

Memoirs of World War II: High School and College, England, 1939-1945

Queen Mary’s High School, Walsall, Staffs, 1933-1941 Girton College, Cambridge, 1941-1944 Cambridge Training College for Women, 1944-194

Are England’s Academies More Inclusive or More ‘Exclusive’? The Impact of Institutional Change on the Pupil Profile of Schools

In 2002 the former Labour government launched the Academies Programme of school improvement. This scheme has targeted entrenched issues of pupil underachievement within state secondary schools located in deprived areas, by enabling private sponsors to run the renewed schools and by granting Academies independence from local authority control. A total of 203 institutions were established by the end of Labour's time in power (April 2010). This paper considers the efficacy of the scheme in delivering on an objective determined at its inception - that requiring Academies to feature a more inclusive and mixed-ability background of pupils. Administrative information in the National Pupil Database is combined with school-level data to assess how the academic quality and composition of pupils entering year 7 of Academies and how their whole school composition has compared to those in predecessor and non-Academy schools. Difference-in-differences regression analysis is applied to a sample of 33 Academies and 326 control schools over the period 1997-2007. Findings reveal an immediate boost to intake quality among Academies once the policy came into effect and a fall in entry by pupils of weaker prior ability, while sampled Academies have also taken in fewer pupils from underprivileged backgrounds. Thus Academies have actually featured a more 'exclusive' pupil profile. The Coalition government - formed since May 2010 - has extended the policy to allow all state schools to become Academies. Newer Academies, like the original ones, may adapt their admissions in a performance-favouring way, implying a worsening of educational opportunity under both policy versions.Academies, school improvement, school renewal, institutional change, pupil profile, pupil intake, pupil composition

Israel: Crossroad of Cultures

Travel to Israel for a historical view of the fortress of Masada and the intriguing archaeological site of Beit She\u27an. Join professors Joan Kennedy & Gary Wilson to listen to their fascinating lecture and view striking photographs of Israel\u27s complex cultural history

Mobility and school choice in England

State sector education policy in England aims to deliver raised standards of\ud attainment and equality of educational opportunity through offering fair access to\ud schools for all pupils from any background. Two initiatives of 'school choice' and\ud `school improvement' have been specifically introduced for this purpose.\ud Choice policies came about in the late 1980s. They propose to provide equal access\ud through breaking the historical geographical link between the home and the school\ud attended. Pupils can apply for admission to any preferred school from their current\ud home location. An equal distribution of better standards in education is thought to be\ud achieved through the scheme's creation of school competition for pupils.\ud Improvement strategies took off in the early 2000s under the Academies Programme.\ud The initiative targets the re-emergence of low-performing schools as viable\ud competitors for pupils through a process of institutional reform. It aspires to raise\ud standards and equality by providing more opportunities for all pupils to have access\ud to better-quality schools.\ud The National Pupil Database is an administrative annual census of state school pupils\ud that allows enrolment-related activity in schools to be tracked. It is used here to\ud address whether fairness is an outcome of the two education policies. Evaluation\ud considers (i) if pupils of differing backgrounds gain access to popular primary\ud schools without moving home under the choice system and; (ii) if failing secondary\ud schools that convert into Academies remain accessible to all pupils.\ud Evidence indicates that the connection between the school attended and home\ud location persists partly because entry rules by popular schools reinstate school-home\ud proximity as an admissions criteria. Meanwhile, there is exclusivity in entry to\ud Academies, with proportionally fewer underprivileged, low-ability pupils featuring\ud in the renewed schools. These outcomes suggest that education policy has a long way\ud to go if fair access to schools is to be achieved.\u

Closeup: Sacramento Women\u27s Studies Program

Women\u27s Studies at Sacramento began with two courses in the spring of 1970, Women in the Modern World and Women in the Law, an extension course: today, there are twenty-six courses and eight extension courses. That fall, 1970, history professor Joan Hoff Wilson and government professor Kirsten Amundsen sponsored a course on the women\u27s movement, The Liberation of the American Woman, oriented for both day and evening women students as well as for community women. To avoid the problem of alienation in large groups, Wilson and Amundsen had speakers for two hours, then broke into small groups for discussion. Speakers included Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Florynce Kennedy, Robin Morgan, Aileen Hernandez, and many others

Interview with Selola Lewis

An interview with Selola Lewis, teacher at Dermot School in Morton County, the last remaining one-room school in Kansas. The school finally closed in 1992.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/ors/1062/thumbnail.jp