Modelling the effect of pupil mobility on school differences in educational achievement

Summary. The recently introduced national pupil database in England allows the tracking of every child through the compulsory phases of the state education system. The data from key stage 2 for three local education authorities are studied, following cohorts of pupils through their schooling. The mobility of pupils among schools is studied in detail by using multiple‐membership multilevel models that include prior achievement and other predictors and the results are compared with traditional ‘value‐added’ approaches that ignore pupil mobility. The analysis also includes a cross‐classification of junior and infant schools attended. The results suggest that some existing conclusions about schooling effects may need to be revised.