Best Practice

Measuring what matters: Supporting disadvantaged students with assessment – not assumption

Pupil Premium and disadvantage Vulnerable children Free School Meals Poverty
Educational disadvantage is complex. Researcher and educator Sean Harris explores why tackling the impact of poverty in schools requires assessment – not assumption. He examines flaws in how we measure attainment gaps and describes a more evidence-based approach
How do you know? Measures like free school meals and Pupil Premium fail to capture the full scope of socio-economic factors affecting educational outcomes meaning schools must do more to understand their own contexts - Adobe Stock

History is replete with cautionary tales of leaders making assumptions that led to mistakes.

In 1962, Decca Records rejected The Beatles after an audition, claiming guitar groups were out of style.

JK Rowling's manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was turned down by no less than 12 publishers, who doubted the market potential for a wizarding world.

Assumptions like this highlight the perils of making decisions based on what we think rather than on what we know (i.e. well-informed assessments).

In education, significant issues can occur when educators and school leaders rely on assumptions to address issues relating to poverty and disadvantage.

The challenge for us all – and especially for schools – is to move from broad generalisations and stereotypes to nuanced, data-driven strategies that acknowledge the complexity of educational disadvantage.

 

Assessment, not assumption

A persistent problem in understanding and tackling educational disadvantage is the tendency to rely on generalisations. These assumptions come in many forms:

  • All disadvantaged students face the same barriers to learning.
  • If we close an attainment gap it means we have successfully tackled educational inequality.
  • Existing measures of disadvantage, such as free school meals, provide a sufficient picture of need.

While these assumptions are often well-intended, they often lead to ineffective policies that fail to address the root causes of inequality. The assumptions are driven by and can also entrench a number of myths and misconceptions about disadvantage and what it means to live and grow up in poverty. I wrote last year in SecEd about some of these myths (Harris, 2024a).

 

The problem with gaps

For decades, education policy has prioritised closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students. However, too much emphasis on attainment gaps alone is a flawed formula for understanding and tackling inequality.

In a recent blog, Jude Hillary, head of education systems and structures at the NFER, explored why data on secondary school attainment for the 2023/24 academic year is problematic for understanding and measuring gaps (Hillary, 2025).

You see, the disadvantage gap measure is calculated using a ranked approach, comparing the relative GCSE performance of non-disadvantaged students to disadvantaged students. This methodology is problematic for making year-on-year comparisons as the measure is sensitive to shifts in the composition of the disadvantaged group.

Research also shows that the number of FSM-eligible students has nearly doubled in recent years due to factors including the pandemic, cost of living crisis, and the Universal Credit transitional arrangements (DfE 2025; Cribb et al, 2023).

Similarly, Gorard (2022) argues that judging the impact of the Pupil Premium is problematic due to the difficulty in isolating its effects from other factors that influence educational outcomes, such as changes in school leadership, teaching practice, and broader policy shifts.

As a result, changes to attainment gaps may reflect shifts in demographics rather than genuine changes in educational outcomes. This makes it difficult to assess the real impact of policies aimed at supporting disadvantaged students.

It is important to monitor gaps – of course it is – but as school leaders and educators our commitment to understanding and tackling educational disadvantage needs to move beyond the narrow lens of attainment gaps.

 

Measuring what matters

So, schools need a more nuanced approach to assessment – one that accounts for the diversity of challenges faced by disadvantaged students. As I have discussed, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Instead, school leaders might find it useful to:

  • Track actual attainment changes within disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged groups separately.
  • Develop measures that reflect the progress of different cohorts over time, rather than simply comparing relative rankings.
  • Understand the root causes of underachievement. Disadvantage manifests in different ways – financial hardship, unstable home environments, lack of access to resources, and even school-level factors like teacher quality and curriculum access.
  • Use other forms of assessment, such as student surveys, qualitative research, and school-level performance data, to better understand specific barriers faced by students.

Of course as much as we might do in schools, a shift is needed in how we understand, measure, and address disadvantage at a policy level too. Research (Sharp et al, 2023) has shown us that current measures, such as FSMs fail to capture the full scope of socio-economic factors affecting educational outcomes. This particular 2023 study suggested updating disadvantage criteria to include factors like housing instability and fluctuating household incomes.

Indeed, one study earlier this year found that “FSM eligibility criteria do not account for factors such as housing costs and family size, which are heavily associated with poverty” (Campbell et al, 2025). You can read the SecEd coverage of this study here.

But at a school level, adopting actionable approaches to better assess students’ needs can influence both practice and policy, provided there is awareness and engagement – a good place to begin might be the work of Marc Rowland in Essex (2021).

 

Define disadvantage

As discussed, FSM-eligibility serves as an oversimplified indicator of disadvantage, with the term “disadvantage” itself being problematic, as discussed by Elliot Major and Briant (2023).

As such, it is important that schools have an understanding of what disadvantage is in their context. Again, this concept of understanding “doorstep disadvantage” in your communities is something I have written about in SecEd previously (Harris, 2021).

In Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools, a new book which I have co-aurthored with Katrina Morley (2025), we offer a range of strategies and case studies to help school leaders and educators navigate the complexities of addressing disadvantage.

For example, it would be beneficial for school leaders and teachers to establish a shared definition of disadvantage (or a more suitable term) tailored to their specific context, ensuring clarity in understanding.

This definition could be accompanied by a structured approach to identifying the barriers to learning caused by disadvantage, along with evidence-based strategies for addressing these challenges.

 

Listening to children

It is crucial to listen to and understand the perspectives of those facing disadvantage, while approaching this with care and sensitivity.

"Diet walks" can be an effective approach where leaders and educators track specific children who face poverty-related learning barriers, gaining insight into the challenges they face throughout the school day across different subjects.

Diet walks involve school leaders and educators following and observing these students. By "walking" with them throughout their school day, educators can gain a first-hand understanding of the challenges they encounter at different points in the day.

This approach helps build awareness of how socio-economic factors affect learning experiences, allowing us to better tailor support strategies.

And the practice of poverty-proofing the school day – an initiative from the charity Children North East – is valuable for working with both children and the whole-school community to deepen understanding of how poverty affects learning. You can learn more about this approach in my SubStack (Harris, 2024b). SecEd has also written about this approach.

 

Connecting with community

Disadvantage does not begin and end with the school day. It is vital to understand the broader challenges faced by the community.

For example, at Dormanstown Primary Academy, school leaders regularly organise Connect events, bringing together local charities, community leaders, and housing associations. These collaborations help identify common issues, allowing leaders to gain insight into challenges across housing, finance, social care, and education.

By sharing information about local services, these events provide a deeper understanding of the persistent poverty-related barriers students face, helping school leaders to make informed decisions based on assessment, not assumption.

These events also challenge misconceptions and myths about families facing disadvantage. In one recent Connect event, leaders shared anonymised examples of issues faced by specific families and invited the organisations to consider how children and families could be better supported.

This has helped schools, and other organisations, to use more granular, individualised examples and data to inform more targeted interventions.

 

Final thoughts

Reducing educational disadvantage in every school requires a shift in both practice and policy. Instead of assuming we know the problem and applying blanket solutions, leaders must engage in rigorous, data-driven assessment to truly understand what is happening in their own schools and communities.

The goal should not be to just “close a gap” – it should be to ensure that every child, regardless of background, has the opportunity to make progress and thrive. Taking this approach means that school leaders can move beyond superficial metrics and towards meaningful and long-lasting change.

  • Sean Harris is a doctoral researcher with Teesside University investigating the ways in which teachers and leaders can help to address educational inequality in schools. He is director of people, learning and community engagement (PLACE) at Tees Valley Education, an all-through multi-academy trust serving communities in the North East of England. He is the co-author of the new book Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools. Find his previous contributions to SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/sean-harris and find his blogspot at https://thatpovertyguy.substack.com  

 

Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools

Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools has been written by Sean Harris and Katina Morley (2025) and is published by Bloomsbury. The book is aimed at school leaders and educators, offering research, actionable, road-tested approaches and resources to help schools understand and address the challenges of disadvantage. Visit www.bloomsbury.com/uk/tackling-poverty-and-disadvantage-in-schools-9781801994750/ 

 

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