Can investing in teachers raise outcomes in disadvantaged schools? Anahita Assadi, Caroline Hall, Martin Lundin och Kristina Sibbmark IFAU

3-year project in 10 schools in low-income areas The previous government gave the National Agency for Education the task of designing and implementing a project to support a selection of schools with poor academic results Project in ten schools (grades 6–9) located in so-called ”urban development areas” The project lasted 2012–2014 (60 million SEK ~ 6,4 million EUR) Focused mainly on supervision and further training of the teachers Main aim: Support the students learning and raise their academic achievement 2

The content of the project Supervision of teachers – group supervision (mandatory) and voluntary individual coaching Develop support for newly immigrated children in their mother tongue Improve contact with guardians Develop activities outside regular school hours (e.g. help with homework) Further training of teachers – courses in teaching strategies to support language development (”mandatory”), formative assessment etc. A package of measures, with ”strenthening the teachers” as the main focus 3

The selection of schools To ensure the possibility for evaluation, the National Agency for Education had to consult with IFAU regarding the selection of schools National Agency for Education: ”How can we make the project as successful as possible?” Each school must be able to influence the content of the project, and all schools must have the opportunity to take part in all measures Everyone at the school must be involved simultaneoulsy The schools must have influence in the selection process IFAU: ”How can we ensure that we can learn as much as possible from the project?” If everyone takes part in several measures at the same time, we will not be able to tell which of the measures were effective Important to avoid self-selection of schools to the project 4

The selection of schools (cont.) Around 25 schools were eligible for the project in 2012 We tried to create pairs of similar schools (similar in terms of trends in GPA and percent eligible for upper secondary school) Only one school in each pair would then be offered to take part in the project. This way we tried to ensure that it would be possible to find a comparable control group for the participating schools 5

Our study 1.Interviews with teachers and principals What has happened at the schools during the project? How have teachers and principals experienced the project? 2. Surveys of students in intervention and comparison schools What impact has the project had on students’ perceptions of the school situation? 3. Register data on students’ grades and results on national achievement tests Effects on students’ school performance? 6

Some results from the interviews Supervision and further training of teachers represented the largest part of the project -Very mixed views regarding the group supervision -Teachers that received individual coaching were positive to this measure -Course in teaching strategies to support language development – very instructive and useful The project seems to have had little or no impact on: -The support for newly immigrated children in their mother tongue -Contacts with guardians -Activites outside regular school hours 7

Effects on school performace? Available data on school outcomes: Final grades from compusory school (grade 9) Eligibility to upper secondary school Grades on national achievement tests in grade 9 (Maths, English, Swedish) The project started in the fall 2012 and we can observe student outcomes until the spring 2014 We examine how school results developed for intervention schools compared to similar schools (also in ”urban development areas”) that did not take part of the project 8

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Higher grades in language courses Results from regression analyses: No effects on grades in 2013 In 2014, statistically significant effects on grades in English: 20% improvement grades in Swedish as 2nd language: 13% improvement For students who have lived in Sweden four years or longer, also statistically significant effect on the GPA: 16% improvement 13

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Improved results on the national test in English, but not in Swedish No effects on the 2013 national achivement test results In 2014, statistically significant effect on English test: 17% improvement But no statistically significant effect on Swedish or Maths results 15

Conclusions Positive effects on students’ grades (Large) positive effects on students’ grades in English and Swedish as 2nd language, as well as on the national test in English For students who have lived in Sweden four years or longer, also positive effects on the GPA The project consisted of several measures and we cannot say anything about the effects of the different measures The effects are probably linked to an enhancement in teacher skills: Group supervision, individual coaching and the course in teaching strategies to support language development constituted the largest parts of the project 16