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Keeping every child on track for success

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS News Release (2007/0101) issued by The Government News Network on 6 June 2007

-One-to-one tuition in 484 schools from September 2007-

Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson, today announced that 484 schools across England have been chosen to run a major two-year pilot from September 2007. The pilot will trial new ways to assess, report and stimulate progress in schools, so that no child falls behind or gets stuck at any stage.

As part of the pilots, thousands of children who are making slow progress will receive a short burst of 10 hours of extra one-to-one tuition - in English and/or maths - on top of their normal school hours, to help them get back on track. 21,500 pupils will receive tuition in English and 21,500 in maths (though some will receive both).

Pilot schools will be challenged to make sure that every child makes progress - the quiet and undemanding 'invisible child' who avoids the teacher's gaze at the back of the class, as well as the gifted child at the front - with incentives and extra support to help. They will have specific targets to help more children to move up two National Curriculum levels in a key stage. If the pilot succeeds, thousands of children will make faster progress than they otherwise would have done.

Teachers in the pilot will track their pupils' progress to make sure that they know where they are in their learning and what the next steps should be. A range of different schools are involved in the pilot - single-sex and mixed schools, middle schools, grammar schools and academies.

Secretary of State for Education and Skills Alan Johnson said:

"I want to make sure that no child falls behind or gets stuck at any stage and I am backing teachers up with extra resources to test out these new approaches. I congratulate the schools which will be running this exciting pilot. We will thoroughly road-test and evaluate these plans.

"At the moment, parents and teachers can see how many pupils are reaching above a certain grade in each school. This transparency has brought about huge improvements and it is here to stay.

"But we also want to explore how teachers' day-to-day judgements about the children in their classes can be better interwoven with externally marked and set tests. Teachers and schools deserve more credit when they have helped a child to improve. Children - and their parents - need to know when they are doing better, whether they are at the top or the bottom of their class.

"We think that good tracking by teachers, confirmed by shorter, more frequent tests, will help schools to personalise each child's learning. This will motivate all pupils to move on and up by recognising what they have achieved and showing them where they have to go next - just as a child who passes their Grade 1 on the recorder feels excited to move on to playing harder tunes.

"All pupils in the pilot will still do tests by 11 and by 14, and the highest results of the tests will be aggregated into performance tables that will still be published.

"Parents need to understand how their child is progressing. I want a system which gives timely information to parents, demonstrates simply whether a child is making good enough progress at every stage of their education, and which motivates children to achieve more in every lesson."

The Department also published a report, 'Making Great Progress', which is based on the experiences of twenty schools where children make excellent progress between the ages of seven and eleven years old.

This report says that regular tracking of children's progress is one of the most effective things that successful primary schools do to help their pupils achieve the best they can. It shows that strong, enthusiastic leaders create a culture where learning is valued and 'boffins' are not bullied. Teachers in these schools assume that every child - whatever their background, race or gender - has it in them to succeed. This practical resource - part of a series of reports on pupil progression - will help all schools to push their pupils on and up while new approaches to progression are piloted.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said:

"Today's report shows that good schools which make excellent progress have a culture which celebrates learning; they expect success from every child, whatever their background. The attitudes and experience of teachers and heads are just as important as the tools they use to help children achieve.

"The teachers whose pupils move up fastest understand what real progress means for individual children and their life chances. These schools use data intelligently to understand what they have to do to get children to make the small steps between each level. They carefully identify children who show early promise, who have untapped potential, or who are in danger of stalling or slowing down."

'Making Great Progress' examines the common features of twenty schools where over 90% of children make excellent progress between Key Stages 1 and 2.

It shows that common features of successful primary schools include:

* precise knowledge of how each child is doing and what each child needs, tracking the progress of their pupils regularly and individually

* learning is celebrated, with a culture that inhibits anti-intellectualism and bullying of 'boffins'

* an assumption by staff that every child has it in them to succeed, whatever their background, race or gender

* enthusiastic heads and senior teachers and a stable leadership team

* a passion for order and thoroughness

* personal targets for each child are specific, challenging, set, and followed up

* thinking aloud and explaining working out are important facets of lessons

NOTES TO EDITORS

* To see the list of schools and download the report please go to http://www.dfes.gov.uk/news

* The progression pilot will:

* help schools to motivate children to achieve more every day in every class; teachers will be able to zero in on children who are 'coasting' or at risk of falling behind.

* test the impact of short bursts of one-to-one tuition in English and maths

* enable teachers to enter pupils for a test at the next level when they think that they are ready

* focus on the progress of children in the key transition years from primary to secondary school, tracking them through Key Stages 2 and 3 (seven to fourteen years old).

* One to one tuition will be delivered by qualified teachers and will take place at school outside school hours, at home or perhaps at a local college or drop-in centre - the timing and location will vary in different areas. The children who will receive tutoring will depend on the school's assessment, but generally it will be those pupils who are not making good progress, and who started Key Stage 2 (age 7) below the expected National Curriculum level (level 2), or who started Key Stage 3 (age 11) behind the expected National Curriculum level (level 4).

* The Department is funding the pilots with £20m for the academic year 2007/8, with further funding to come for academic year 2008/9.

Examples of children moving up 2 levels in English and maths

Aruna is a Level 3 in reading. She can read independently, identifying the main points when she is reading and she has good literal comprehension. By the time that she has reached Level 5, Aruna can understand and analyse what she reads. She has an understanding of literary techniques used by writers and can 'read between the lines'.

Aruna is a Level 3 in writing. She writes in a simple style, which is in the main clear and correct. By the time that she has reached Level 5 Aruna has an understanding of rhetorical techniques. Her own writing is now well organised and paragraphed, and she is using more complex sentences. Aruna is now using standard English as appropriate and is able to adapt her writing for the audience and purpose.

Jamie is working at level 2 in mathematics. He can solve simple problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication or division and explain why his answer is correct. He knows the names of common 2D and 3D shapes and can classify them by their properties, for example the number of sides and corners for 2-D shapes. He can display data in a table and a block graph.

By the time that Jamie is operating at level 4, he is using a greater range of approaches when exploring mathematics and solving problems. He can suggest different ways to tackle a problem and can record his method in an organised way. He can use a range of mental strategies to calculate with larger numbers in all four operations, explaining his methods, and can use efficient written methods to add numbers with up to two decimal places. He can decide how to find the perimeter and area of shapes made from rectangles and can draw and interpret bar charts and line graphs.

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