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Understanding low achievement in English schools

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  • Robert Cassen
  • Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Cassen & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "Understanding low achievement in English schools," CASE Papers case118, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:case118
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    File URL: https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/CASEpaper118.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan B. Krueger, 1999. "Experimental Estimates of Education Production Functions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(2), pages 497-532.
    2. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally & Costas Meghir, 2010. "Resources and Standards in Urban Schools," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 365-393.
    3. Deborah Wilson & Simon Burgess & Adam Briggs, 2011. "The dynamics of school attainment of England’s ethnic minorities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 681-700, April.
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    5. Hobbs, Graham & Vignoles, Anna, 2007. "Is free school meal status a valid proxy for socio-economic status (in schools research)?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19385, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Cassen, Robert & Kingdon, Geeta, 2007. "Tackling low educational achievement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43735, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. 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.
    8. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2005. "Gender and Student Achievement in English Schools," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 357-372, Autumn.
    9. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 34-63, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Elena Meschi & Anna Vignoles & Robert Cassen, 2014. "Post-secondary School Type and Academic Achievement," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(2), pages 183-201, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Low achievement; school fixed effects; panel data; school resources; England;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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