Helping to Raise Primary School Attainment in Disadvantaged Schools Through the Use of Evidence

This paper describes a use-of-evidence intervention implemented by eight primary schools in and around Durham County, in the North East of England. The researchers provided schools with a menu of evidence-based approaches to improve attainment, especially for disadvantaged pupils. Collectively, the schools chose Learning by Questions (LbQ) software to improve maths for Year 4, and Student Tutoring to improve English in Year 5. Half of the schools were randomised to each approach for each year group. Data collection, especially of the prior attainment scores, was affected by Covid lockdown. LbQ was the most feasible approach, with schools given help by the developers, and appreciated by teachers and pupils. But the approach showed little or no impact on test scores in the short term. The Tutoring intervention was more complex with local university students having to travel to schools in remote areas, fit in with timetables, and develop activities according to school priorities. The students also had other commitments. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the treatment group improved more than the control. Overall, the use-of-evidence intervention is promising based on this first pilot trial. The next step is to scale it up with a more varied set of options, a larger scale, and over a longer time period.