The Effectiveness of English Secondary Schools for Pupils of Different Ability Levels

36 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2011

See all articles by Lorraine Dearden

Lorraine Dearden

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

John Micklewright

Institute of Education; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Anna F. Vignoles

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Abstract

'League table' information on school effectiveness in England generally relies on either a comparison of the average outcomes of pupils by school, e.g. mean exam scores, or on estimates of the average value added by each school. These approaches assume that the information parents and policy-makers need most to judge school effectiveness is the average achievement level or gain in a particular school. Yet schools can be differentially effective for children with differing levels of prior attainment. We present evidence on the extent of differential effectiveness in English secondary schools, and find that even the most conservative estimate suggests that around one quarter of schools in England are differentially effective for students of differing prior ability levels. This affects an even larger proportion of children as larger schools are more likely to be differentially effective.

Keywords: school effectiveness, school choice, value added, England

JEL Classification: I2

Suggested Citation

Dearden, Lorraine and Micklewright, John and Vignoles, Anna F., The Effectiveness of English Secondary Schools for Pupils of Different Ability Levels. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5839, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1887525 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1887525

Lorraine Dearden (Contact Author)

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) ( email )

7 Ridgmount Street
London, WC1E 7AE
United Kingdom

John Micklewright

Institute of Education ( email )

20 Bedford Way
London, WC1H 0AL
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/staff/QSSE/QSSE_30.html

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Anna F. Vignoles

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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