Education Endowment Foundation launches new research over widening attainment gap

In June, the EEF published a rapid evidence assessment which found that school closures will have reversed a decade’s progress in closing the disadvantage gap between poorer students and their wealthier peers. 

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However, the unprecedented circumstances of Covid-19 mean the evidence base remains limited, it said.

The new studies are designed to help address the gap in evidence as well as provide more information about the changes to the disadvantage gap among primary school age children.

They are also hoped to provide detailed information on how schools are supporting pupils’ wellbeing and learning this academic year.

As part of one of the projects, a team led by educational data providers FFT, will work to provide the earliest robust estimate of the change in the disadvantage gap pre- and post-lockdown, as well as analysing strategies associated with mitigating a widening gap, focused on pupils in years 2 to 6 in 145 primary schools.

A second will see the National Foundation for Educational Research assess the extent to which Key Stage 1 pupils’ attainment in reading and maths has been impacted by school closures, focussing particularly on the effect on disadvantaged pupils. 

Some 158 schools will provide detailed information on the types of support individual pupils are receiving this year, as well as whole-school strategies - such as small-group work, tutoring, parental engagement - which will be uniquely important in trying to understanding the impact of different responses for disadvantaged groups.

A third project, carried out by the University of York, NIESR and EPI, will assess the impact of lockdown on the school readiness of new reception children across England and their educational attainment and socioemotional well being over their first year of education.

Professor Becky Francis, chief Executive of the EEF, said: “Covid-19 closures of schools and nurseries have highlighted once again the complex challenges in tackling educational disadvantage, and the extraordinary efforts of educators to respond.

“This new research has two important aims. First, to better understand the extent to which the attainment gap is likely to have widened in the past six months. Secondly, to identify what approaches schools and teachers are taking to support their pupils to come back stronger – and which of these hold the greatest promise for improved learning and wellbeing outcomes for children.”