Whatever It Takes Project – 2014/15 Full Evaluation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Whatever it Takes Project – 2014/15 Full Evaluation Introduction The Whatever it Takes (WiT) initiative completed its sixth academic year of activities in the summer of 2015. This annual report seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of that investment towards achieving the ultimate aim of doing “whatever it takes to get every child in Leicester reading”. Whilst there are no specific performance measures of WiT that can definitively tell us the success or otherwise of the project, there are a number of proxy measures and indicators that this report will use to gauge overall reading outcomes in the city in recent years. All such measures and indicators will be influenced by other factors, of course, but taken together will be used to consider the impact of WiT. This report will consider the reading attainment of children in Leicester’s schools and their attitude to reading, using the WiT pupil survey. The majority of the WiT investment is distributed through school-based projects and the effectiveness of these in the academic year 2014/15 are also considered. So too are the central WiT events of the last academic year. Some projects and data referred to in this report come from beyond the academic year into the remainder of the calendar year, but given the lag in finalised academic data, it has historically been seen as more timely to report them together with 2014/15 academic information. This report encompasses all aspects of the Whatever it Takes work, including those funded from both the Dedicated Schools Grant and the General Fund. 1 Summary The key findings from this report are: • Key Stage 1 reading attainment has declined and the gap to national has widened o Numbers of Level 2+ and Level 2B+ have dipped compared to last year o There was a small rise in pupils achieved a Level 3 o APS score remains at last year’s level • Key Stage 2 reading attainment has improved and the gap to national has narrowed o Significant gains in Level 4B+ outcomes has almost halved the gap to national o Boys performance in 2015 has driven overall gains o Long term improvement is amongst best in the country • Attitudes to reading amongst Leicester’s schools is relatively stable o More pupils read at home daily than before, but confidence in reading ability has dropped o Pupils appear more likely to enjoy reading post-transition than they have been in previous years • Almost 80 schools received a total of around £900k to run projects during the 2014/15 academic year. o Primary schools provided pupil-level data showing good progress being made on WiT-funded projects, approximately 3.5% of the entire primary cohort in Leicester were reported upon o Secondary schools provided pupil-level data showing good progress being made on WiT-funded projects, approximately 5% of the entire Y7/Y8 cohort in Leicester were reported upon • WiT central events contribute to main aims of project o Previously successful central work continued 2 Reading attainment and attitude Baseline and Context In February 2010 WiT activities commenced at a time when one in five children left Leicester’s primary schools not reading at age-related standards. The 2009 statutory assessments were used as the baseline for comparison, although the first full academic year of WiT funded projects was not until 2010-11. Whilst the statutory assessments are used as an important proxy measure of impact by WiT, it should be noted that many things contribute to these outcomes, both within schools and outside. Also given the nature of WiT-funded work, some projects would take seven years to make an impact on the stated aim of ensuring children leave primary school reading at age-related standards, as a child moves through their school life. WiT is not specifically aimed at improving statutory outcomes, although they do form an important part of its success criteria. Reading Attainment at Age 7 In Key Stage 1 there has been a small dip in Leicester’s performance compared to last year both at Level 2 and Level 2B+, whilst Level 3 improved slightly. The gap to national is now 4.1pp at Level 2 and almost 6pp at Level 2B+, although it has narrowed very slightly at Level 3. Boys at Key Stage 1 have gained much of the dip in 2014 back, with Girls performance falling slightly. KS1 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Reading Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Level 2+ 80.8% 84% 81.4% 85% 83.8% 85% 85.2% 87% 87.0% 89% 86.2% 90% 85.9% 90% Boys 76.6% 80% 78.1% 81% 81.1% 82% 82.2% 84% 84.1% 86% 82.8% 87% 84.0% 88% Girls 85.5% 88% 84.7% 89% 86.6% 89% 88.4% 90% 90.2% 92% 89.9% 93% 88.1% 93% Level 2b+ 66.7% 72% 67.9% 72% 70.3% 74% 74.0% 76% 77.5% 79% 76.4% 81% 76.2% 82% Boys 61.4% 67% 62.5% 67% 66.4% 68% 70.6% 72% 73.4% 74% 72.4% 77% 72.7% 78% Girls 72.5% 77% 73.6% 78% 74.5% 79% 77.6% 81% 82.0% 83% 80.9% 85% 80.0% 86% Level 3 18.2% 26% 19.7% 26% 20.8% 26% 22.0% 27% 23.7% 29% 26.4% 31% 26.6% 32% Boys 16.0% 22% 16.4% 22% 18.0% 22% 20.2% 23% 21.0% 25% 21.2% 26% 22.0% 27% Girls 20.7% 30% 23.1% 30% 23.9% 30% 23.9% 31% 26.7% 33% 32.0% 35% 31.7% 37% APS 14.9 15.7 15 15.7 15.2 15.8 15.5 16 15.8 16.3 15.9 16.5 15.9 16.6 Boys 14.3 15.1 14.4 15.1 14.8 15.2 15.1 15.5 15.3 15.7 15.3 15.9 15.3 16.1 Girls 15.5 16.3 15.6 16.3 15.7 16.4 15.9 16.6 16.3 16.8 16.6 17 16.5 17.2 Source: DataNet (Leicester), DfE (National) Reading Attainment at Age 11 In Key Stage 2 Leicester improved by 2.1pp at Level 4 or above, driven by the gain in Boys’ outcomes who increased by 3pp. The overall gap to national is down to 1.6pp, the second lowest it has ever been. There was also a significant gain in Level 4B+, again led by the Boys’ outcomes, where the gap to national is down to 1.9pp. 3 KS2 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Reading Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Leic Nat Level 4+ 81.3% 86% 78.2% 83% 80.2% 84% 83.2% 87% 84.6% 86% 85.3% 89% 87.4% 89% Boys 77.2% 82% 73.8% 80% 76.5% 80% 80.0% 84% 82.1% 83% 82.8% 87% 85.8% 87% Girls 85.7% 89% 82.9% 87% 84.3% 88% 86.8% 90% 87.4% 88% 88.0% 91% 89.1% 91% Level 4b+ 71.6% 66.9% 65.9% 72.3% 72.6% 75% 74.6% 78% 78.1% 80% Boys 66.3% 63.0% 61.2% 68.3% 70.3% 72% 71.1% 76% 76.4% 78% Girls 77.4% 71.0% 71.0% 76.6% 75.2% 78% 78.3% 81% 79.8% 83% Level 5+ 37.8% 47% 39.1% 50% 33.7% 43% 39.6% 48% 38.0% 45% 44.0% 50% 41.8% 49% Boys 32.4% 41% 35.8% 45% 29.9% 37% 34.4% 43% 34.8% 41% 40.3% 47% 38.8% 44% Girls 43.6% 54% 42.6% 56% 37.9% 48% 45.4% 54% 41.4% 48% 48.1% 53% 44.8% 53% APS 27.7 28.6 27.5 28.5 27.3 28.2 28 27.7 28 28.4 28.4 Boys 27 27.9 26.9 28.1 26.7 27.5 27.4 27 27.6 27.9 28.1 Girls 28.4 29.3 28.1 29.3 27.9 28.9 28.6 28.4 28.5 28.9 28.8 Source: DataNet (Leicester), DfE (National) Improvement over time compared nationally Over the last six years the improvement in Level 4 or above in Reading in Leicester has been amongst the best in the country. Using the DfE rounded data to provide comparison with all Local Authorities, there has been a nine percentage point increase in Leicester’s outcomes of this measure comparing 2010 results to 2015. Only five Local Authorities have improved in this measure by more in this timescale. 10 Leicester KS2 Reading 2010-2015 (all) 5 0 4+ Reading in 4+ % gain/loss in Level -5 One column per Local Authority (Leicester highlighted yellow) The driving force behind this improvement continues to be the gains made by boys, where the DfE data reports a 13 percentage point increase between 2010 and 2015, this is the best improvement in the country, matched only by one other authority. 15 Leicester KS2 Reading 2010-2015 (boys) 10 5 4+ Reading in 4+ % gain/loss in Level 0 One column per Local Authority (Leicester highlighted yellow) 4 Children’s attitude to reading Given the lag of other information and the timing of the annual pupil survey at the beginning of the academic year, historically survey data has always been presented ‘a year in advance’ ie this survey data is from the 2015/16 survey not 2014/15.