Schools

Our schools research explores how and why educational inequalities widen through the school years.

Education policy is a key policy lever to improving opportunities.

Our schools research explores how the education system can be improved to reduce barriers to opportunities. We aim to create a fairer system for all children, where achievement is based on skills rather than family circumstances.

In particular, evidence suggests a vital role for access to good teachers in the school system. We seek to understand how to attract, retain, and develop the most talented school teachers.

Our research

Working papers

• Experimental education research: rethinking why, how and when to use random assignment - Sam Sims, Jake Anders, Matthew Inglis, Hugues Lortie-Forgues, Ben Styles and Ben Weidmann
• Using technology to get inside the black box of instructional coaching: a feasibility study - Sam Sims, Kate Forbes and Josh Goodrich.
• Are some school inspectors more lenient than others? – Christian Bokhove, Sam Sims and John Jerrim 
• Can Maths Apps Add Value to Learning? A Systematic Review - Laura Outhwaite, Erin Early, Christothea Herodotou and Jo Van Herwegen
• How does testing young children influence educational attainment and well-being? - Colin Green, Ole Henning Nyhus and Kari Vea Salvanes
• Traditional and progressive orientations to teaching: new empirical evidence on an old debate – Sam Sims and John Jerrim
• Walking the line: Does crossing a high stakes exam threshold matter for labour market outcomes? - Oliver Anderson
• The effect of financial incentives on the retention of shortage-subject teachers: evidence from England - Sam Sims and Asma Benhenda
• Socio-economic inequality in young people’s financial capabilities - Jake Anders, John Jerrim and Lindsey Macmillan
• Effective teacher professional development: new theory and a meta-analytic test - Sam Sims, Harry Fletcher-Wood, Alison O’Mara-Eves, Sarah Cottingham, Claire Stansfield, Josh Goodrich, Jo Van Herwegen and Jake Anders
• Educational expectations of UK teenagers and the role of socio-economic status and economic preferences - Silvan Has, Jake Anders, John Jerrim and Nikki Shure.
• The effect of embedding formative assesment on pupil attainment - Jake Anders, Francesca Foliano, Matt Bursnall, Richard Dorsett, Nathan Anders, Johnny Runge and Stefan Speckesser.
• Making good on the ITT Market Review - Sam Sims.
• Inequalities in young peoples’ educational experiences and wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic - Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan, Patrick Sturgis and Gill Wyness.
• Refugees and the Educational Attainment of Natives - Colin Green and Jon Marius Vaag Iversen.
• A review and evaluation of secondary school accountability in England: Statistical strengths, weaknesses, and challenges for 'Progress 8' raised by COVID - Lucy Prior, John Jerrim, Dave Thomson and George Lecki.
• Quantifying 'promising trials bias' in randomized controlled trials in education - Sam Sims, Jake Anders, Matthew Inglis and Hugues Lortie-Forgues.
• How did the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic affect teacher wellbeing? - Rebecca Allen, John Jerrim and Sam Sims.
• Grade Expectations: How well can we predict future grades based on past performance? - Jake Anders, Catherine Dilnot, Lindsey Macmillan and Gill Wyness.
• Driven to succeed? Teenagers’ drive, ambition and performance on high-stakes examinations - John Jerrim, Gill Wyness and Nikki Shure.
• Monetary and time investments in children’s education: how do they differ in workless households? - Silvan Häs, Jake Anders and Nikki Shure.
• Conditioning: How background variables can influence PISA scores - Laura Zieger, John Jerrim, Jake Anders and Nikki Shure.
• Determinants of private school participation: all about the money? - Jake Anders, Francis Green, Morag Henderson and Golo Henseke.
• Adolescent School Bullying Victimisation and Later Life Outcomes - Emma Gorman, Colm Harmon, Silvia Mendolia, Anita Staneva and Ian Walker.
• Stay a Little Longer? Teacher Turnover, Retention, and Quality in Disadvantaged Schools - Asma Benhena and Julien Grenet.
• New evidence on teachers’ working hours in England. An empirical analysis of four datasets - Rebecca Allen, Asma Benhenda, John Jerrim and Sam Sims.

Podcasts

• Who goes to private school? Looking beyond the money
• How do we best teach science?

Briefing notes

• Financial Impacts and Inequalities
• Attainment and Assessment
• Post-pandemic funding for SEND pupils: is it enough?
• Understanding how we can raise attainment in mathematics
• Should we abolish GCSEs?
• The impact of timing of benefit payments on children’s outcomes
• The impact of school facility expenditures on pupil attainment
• Academic and social and emotional interventions in response to COVID-19 school closures
• The impact of recessions on teacher labour markets
• Inequality in access to grammar schools
• Inequalities in resources in the home learning environment 
• School absences and pupil achievement
• COSMO Briefing No.1 – Lockdown Learning
• COSMO Briefing No.2  - Education Recovery and Catch up
• COSMO Briefing No.3 – Future Plans and Aspirations
• COSMO Briefing No.4 – Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Cosmo Briefing No.5 – Health Impacts and Behaviours

Blog posts

• Retain external examination as the primary means of assessment - Dominic P. Kelly
• There can be no “levelling up” without education recovery.
• Learning About Culture: The importance of arts-based learning, the limits of what we know about it, and the challenges of evaluating it. 
• Financial Literacy Part 1: How unequal are children’s financial literacy skills? John Jerrim
• Financial Literacy Part 2: The financial skills of children. What can rich kids do that poor kids can’t? John Jerrim
• Financial Literacy Part 3: Are there socio-economic differences in how parents interact with their children about money? John Jerrim 
• Financial Literacy Part 4: Do disadvantaged children receive enough financial education in school? John Jerrim
• What do we know so far about the effect of school closures on educational inequality? Jo Blanden, Matthias Doepke and Jan Stuhler
• How might teacher shortages be reduced? Asma Benhenda
• How has Covid-19 affected inequalities between state and private schools? Jake Anders
• Young people’s physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jake Anders
• Are Ofsted inspections helpful for choosing secondary schools? Sam Sims
• We must reform school admissions to ensure all pupils can access high-quality education. Jake Anders
• Using targeted pay uplifts to reduce teacher shortages. Sam Sims
• Attendance Matters: Evidence-Based Solutions to the Post-Covid Absenteeism Crisis. Asma Benhenda
• Persistent absenteeism: Who is missing school since the pandemic? Xin Shao, Jake Anders, and Lindsey Macmillan
• Young people’s engagement with extra-curricular activities following the pandemic. Alice De Gennaro
• Reduced engagement in extra-curricular activities post-pandemic: should we be worried? Alice De Gennaro
• Levelling up education and skills: a recipe for success? - Claire Crawford, Laura Outhwaite, Sam Sims and Gill Wyness
• The challenges of COVID-19 for young people need a new cohort study: introducing COSMO - Jake Anders and Carl Cullinane.
• We won’t reduce inequalities in post-16 progression until we make 'lower attainers' more visible - Ruth Lupton, Stephanie Thomson, Lorna Unwin and Sanne Velthuis.
• How is school accountability linked to teacher stress? - John Jerrim.
• Has a GCSE grade C/4 lost its value? - John Jerrim.
• Housing wealth, not bursaries, explains much of private school participation for those without high income - Jake Anders and Golo Henseke.
• How can policy-makers and parents support home learning during lockdown? - Laura Outhwaite.
• Exams 2021: So what now? Part 2: CEPEO’s response to the DfE/Ofqual consultation on summer assessment 2020/21 - Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan and Gill Wyness.
• Exams 2021: So what now? - Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan, and Gill Wyness.
• Staying ambitious, motivated and focused during Year 11 is worth half a grade per GCSE subject - John Jerrim.
• Predicted grades – what do we know, and why does it matter? - Gill Wyness.
• 10 things you may not know about educational inequality
• Home schooling during lockdown: Inequalities in inputs and perceptions - Jake Anders, Lindsey Macmillan, Patrick Sturgis and Gill Wyness.
• Widening Participation practitioners won’t let COVID-19 closures stop them from delivering HE access activities - Anna Mountford-Zimdars.
• The Covid-19 crisis and Educational Inequality - Simon Burgess and Anna Vignoles.
• Lockdown and the 11-plus - Matt Dickson and Lindsey Macmillan.
• Why wait until clearing to improve information available to students? - Gill Wyness.
• Ending lockdowns by reopening schools first? The potential implications for teachers’ health and well-being - Asma Benhenda.
• Why have we waited until now to improve the accuracy of predicted grades? - Gill Wyness.
• GCSE results in English and maths: Whatever approach is taken, here is how it should be validated - John Jerrim.
• Schools that keep teachers - Sam Sims.
• GCSEs are cancelled. Here’s what the government should do - John Jerrim.
• Who goes to private school? Looking beyond the money - Jake Anders.
• How do teacher absence and substitute teaching affect secondary students’ achievement? Evidence from France has wider implications - Asma Benhenda.

Projects

• Student to degree mismatch: the role of schools, and the impact of disruption from COVID-19
• COVID-19 impact on young peoples' learning, motivation, wellbeing, and aspirations
• COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities Study (COSMO)
• Learning About Culture
• Evaluating Complex and Whole-school Interventions (CWSI): Methodological and Practical Considerations