1. Evidence in Action: Using Research to Narrow the Gap Eleanor Stringer
9th July 2015

2. Who we are
The Education Endowment Foundation is an independent grant-making charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement for children aged 3-16.
The EEF was founded in 2011 by lead charity the Sutton Trust, in partnership with Impetus, with a £125m founding grant from the Department for Education.
In March 2013, the EEF and Sutton Trust were jointly designated by the Government as the What Works Centre for improving education outcomes for school- aged children.
Work with Durham University and the Sutton Trust to produce the Teaching and Learning Toolkit, an accessible summary of educational research.

3. Presentation overview
It is easier to tackle difficult challenges if you have access to information about what has been effective elsewhere, and about what hasn’t.
1 idea
2 sources of information
3 tips
…to help you get the most out of evidence

4. Year 7 catch-up The challenge
The educational chances of pupils who begin secondary school without having achieved Level 4 are very poor.
11% of pupils who did not achieve Level 4 in reading in 2008 went on to obtain 5A*-C, incl. English and maths at 16, compared to 72% of pupils achieved Level 4 or above.
How big is the gap? + +
Level 2 or below
Level 3c
Level 3b
Level 3a
Level 4c
Level 4b
Due to the size of the gap helping struggling pupils catch up at this point is very challenging. It is estimated that a majority of pupils who do not achieve L4 are over a year’s progress away from doing so.

5. Year 7 catch-up

6. Year 7 catch-up
Percentage of pupils making the expected level of progress in mathematics (by KS4) whose prior attainment was:
Below level 4
At level 4
Above level 4
26.4
65.3
84.7
Paper 2

7. Year 7 catch-up
Paper 2

8. Spending and outcomes 1
The relationship between spending and results is not linear.
This graph answers the “why not just give us more money?” question. It will always be important to think about how we spend our resources.
Capturing the benefits of increased spending is difficult. Internationally, the relationship between spending and outcomes is very weak.

9. Spending and outcomes 2
The relationship between spending and results is not linear.
This graph answers the “why not just give us more money?” question. It will always be important to think about how we spend our resources.
In England, spending increased by 47% between 2001 and 2011, but over this period improvements in pupil outcomes have been marginal.

10. Evidence can help
If used in the right way evidence can help us:
Capture the maximum possible benefit from effort and spending
Identify promising ideas from other schools and systems
Avoid the fad and the fakes

11. The Teaching and Learning Toolkit

12. Average effects

13. Supporting decision-making
The Toolkit aims to support evidence-informed decision making in schools. As a starting point the Toolkit summarises the average impact, cost and strength of evidence in 34 areas.

14. EEF projects
The EEF are working to fund, develop and evaluate projects that:
Build on existing evidence.
Will generate significant new understanding of what works.
Can be replicated cost effectively if proven to work.

15. 100 projects funded to date
Projects by numbers
4,700 schools currently participating in projects
100 projects funded to date
600,000 pupils currently involved in EEF projects
£220m estimated spend over lifetime of the EEF
15 independent evaluation teams
£57m
funding awarded to date
12 funding rounds to date

16. Example 1: Mastery learning
10,000 pupils
125 schools
2 trials

17. Example 2: Teaching assistants
5 projects
197 schools

18. Other findings to date

19. Other projects Completed Saturday schools
Social and emotional learning
To come
Texting parents
Flipped learning
Online tuition
Best practice in grouping students

20. Get involved
Several ground-breaking EEF funded trials are looking for schools to work with, contact the organisations below as soon as possible if your school is interested.
Primary schools in the North West and Yorkshire and others can sign up for Good Behaviour Game – trial of a classroom management programme
Secondary schools across the country can sign up now for:
Embedding Formative Assessment, with SSAT and Dylan Wiliam
Teensleep, with University of Oxford - Testing the impact of later start times and a sleep education programme on pupil attainment.
Best Practice in Grouping Students - Best practice in setting and mixed ability teaching, with Kings College London
DIY guide is becoming interactive – October 2014.

21. Three tips 1. Use the evidence as a starting point for discussion
2. Dig deeper into what the evidence actually says
3. Evaluate in your own school

22. Thanks For more information: www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk