The government's Excellence in Cities policy has improved the educational outcomes for secondary school pupils in disadvantaged areas, according to new economic research by Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Costas Meghir. But the study also shows that the educational benefits are not equally distributed: the most disadvantaged schools benefit and the effect is concentrated among pupils of medium to high ability.

McNally, Sandra

English

Research Papers in Economics

CentrePiece Winter 2005/06
18
Evaluating ‘Excellence in Cities’
The government’s Excellence in Cities
policy has improved the educational outcomes for
secondary school pupils in disadvantaged areas, according
to new economic research by Stephen Machin, Sandra
McNally and Costas Meghir. But the study also shows that
the educational benefits are not equally distributed: the
most disadvantaged schools benefit and the effect is
concentrated among pupils of medium to high ability.
Excellence in Cities (EiC) has been one of the government’s
flagship education policies. Initially introduced in 1999 in
an effort to turn around the fortunes of inner city schools,
it has since been expanded to cover a third of all secondary
schools. Its three core strands involve funding for ‘learning
mentors’ to help pupils overcome educational or
behavioural problems; ‘learning support units’ to help
difficult pupils; and a ‘gifted and talented’ programme to
provide extra support for 5-10% of pupils in each school.
The CEP/IFS economic evaluation of the programme
compares the outcomes of pupils in EiC schools with
those in a comparison group outside the programme. It
finds that:
 The rate of improvement in EiC schools has been higher
than that of other LEA-maintained schools. This is true
even after controlling for different pupil and school
characteristics, such as prior attainment and pupil
numbers.
 EiC has led to an improvement of 1.9 percentage points
in the number of children reaching level 5 or above in
key stage 3 mathematics. The estimate is higher in
schools that have been in the programme the longest
but still evident in schools that came into the
programme later.
 There is no evidence of an effect on attainment in
English after controlling for pupil and school
characteristics. But the effects are positive for school
attendance: EiC has raised attendance by the equivalent
of one day per pupil in the first group of schools to
enter the programme.
 The positive effects of EiC have increased over time. The
effects are higher for more disadvantaged schools (as
measured by eligibility for free school meals) and
negligible for more advantaged schools.
 The effects of EiC are higher for pupils of medium to
high ability (as measured by attainment at age 11). For
example, it has delivered a 2.9 to 4.8 percentage point
increase in the number of pupils achieving level 5 or
above in key stage 3 mathematics for the most able
pupils in schools with the highest rate of deprivation.
This raises the question as to whether even bigger
effects might be generated if it were possible to target
resources more carefully. 
 The big question is whether the overall benefits of EiC
can be justified in terms of the per pupil cost. To know
this for sure requires observing pupils as they progress
through the education system and into the labour
market. But initial estimates suggest that the EiC policy
is potentially cost-effective. The relatively low cost of
the policy – £120 per pupil on average for each year –
suggests that the benefits do not have to be very large
to generate a positive outcome. 
in brief...
‘Excellence in Cities: Evaluation of an
Education Policy in Disadvantaged Areas’ by
Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Costas
Meghir is the final report of the economic
evaluation of EiC for the Department for
Education and Skills.The study was joint
work between CEP and the Institute for
Fiscal Studies (IFS). For the full report on
EiC, which includes analysis by
educationalists and economists, see:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/
uploadfiles/RR675A.pdf 
The policy has raised attainment in maths
and improved school attendance
Excellence in Cities has improved
educational outcomes in our 
most disadvantaged urban schools

'Excellence in cities'.

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