Bridging the attainment gap

Research featured in SecEd last week shows that disadvantaged children continue to underachieve in the classroom, regardless of whether the school they attend is highly rated by Ofsted (Research raises questions about attainment gap accountability, SecEd 393, October 2, 2014. See http://bit.ly/1pozdHW).

Professor Steve Strand, of Oxford University, claims that the “stubbornness” of the attainment gap across all types of schools suggests that the quality of a school is not enough to overcome a child’s background. He believes that some of the reasons why children who grow up in poverty may do less well in education is “because they have parents who are more stressed, less able to afford educational activities and resources, and less well-placed to help them with school work”, and these are valid points. He also says that while good and outstanding schools may raise the bar for pupils, they do not close the gap.