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Understanding low achievement in English schools

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Author Info
Robert Cassen
Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

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Abstract

Tens of thousands of young people leave school with no or very few qualifications in England. This paper seeks to build a fuller picture of Key Stage 4 low achievement and its correlates than available hitherto. We focus on three aspects. Firstly, the role of students' personal characteristics, especially gender, ethnicity and past achievement, in explaining the incidence of low achievement at age 16. Secondly, we investigate the extent to which particular personal characteristics constitute direct risk factors for low achievement and the extent to which they lead to low achievement because of their correlation with unobserved school and neighborhood quality, i.e. the role of sorting into schools and neighborhoods of different quality. We suggest a method of calculating school quality (how effective a school is in helping its pupils to avoid low achievement) which is akin to the value-added concept, and examine which specific observed school characteristics predict this measure of 'school quality'. Thirdly, the paper examines the relationship between school resources - particularly per pupil expenditure - and the avoidance of low achievement, exploiting the panel nature of the National Pupil Database. Going beyond simple discrete choice models, the paper employs school fixed effects regression to reduce endogeneity problems and employs panel data at the student level to analyse school resource effects. A number of interesting findings emerge about the correlates of low achievement and of school quality, and we consider the policy implications of our findings.

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Paper provided by Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE in its series CASE Papers with number /118.

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Date of creation: Jun 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:/118

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Web page: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/publications/

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Related research
Keywords: Low achievement; school fixed effects; panel data; school resources; England;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Kathryn Graddy & Margaret Stevens, 2003. "The Impact of School Inputs on Student Performance: An Empirical Study of Private Schools in the United Kingdom," Economics Series Working Papers 146, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1999. "Using Maimonides' Rule To Estimate The Effect Of Class Size On Scholastic Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 533-575, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Costas Meghir, 2007. "Resources and Standards in Urban Schools," CEE Discussion Papers 0076, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2005. "Gender and Student Achievement in English Schools," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 357-372, Autumn.
    Other versions:
  5. Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra, 2004. "The Literacy Hour," IZA Discussion Papers 1005, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Feinstein, Leon & Symons, James, 1999. "Attainment in Secondary School," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 300-321, April.
  7. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 11660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates Of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Graham Hobbs & Anna Vignoles, 2007. "Is Free School Meal Status a Valid Proxy for Socio-Economic Status (in Schools Research)?," CEE Discussion Papers 0084, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  10. Steve Bradley & Jim Taylor, 2004. "Ethnicity, educational attainment and the transition from school," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 72(3), pages 317-346, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2006. "School Assignment, School Choice and Social Mobility," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/157, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  12. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages F34-F63, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Adam Briggs & Simon Burgess & Deborah Wilson, 2006. "The Dynamics of School Attainment of Englands Ethnic Minorities," CASE Papers /105, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Lorraine Dearden & Javier Ferri & Costas Meghir, 2002. "The Effect Of School Quality On Educational Attainment And Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 1-20, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 1999. "School Inputs And Educational Outcomes In South Africa," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(3), pages 1047-1084, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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