Bitesize Research: Teacher Influence On Student Attainment

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone had a great half term, and that you’re having a good week so far. Given that we are in the thick of GCSE exams, this week, I was interested to see the TES reporting of the findings of research by the Nuffield Foundation about teacher influences on student attainment (specifically GCSE results). Objectives: To understand the influences that teachers have on student attainment. Summary:

• The data for this study was from 14,000 students, in 32 secondary schools
• The study confirms that the classroom practices of teachers do matter and do influence student results. It also shows that the classroom practices vary from subject to subject in terms of their impact.
• For example, in English lessons - facilitating interactions and discussions between students appear to be important to raising test scores
• In Maths lessons - making time for students to practice individually appears to be important in raising test scores
• Teacher ratings were also examined, and the teachers ranked most highly by peers appeared to have the biggest impact on GCSE scores
• The report authors suggest that peer observations of these highly ranked teachers are likely to be helpful in both professional learning and in improving student outcomes

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• What do I notice about my planned classroom activities and their relationship to student attainment? What evidence do I have?
• When was the last time I observed a colleague who is highly rated by students? What did I learn?
• How can I factor in time for observation in T6 of a highly rated colleague?

If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Attendance

This week, I wanted to share with you a summary of key research that was compiled in 2016 on student attendance by AttendanceWorks, a charity based in the US that looks at tackling chronic absence issues. 

Objectives: To outline the key ‘takeaways’ from recent research on resolving issues around attendance.

Summary:  

• Balfanz et. al (2007): whole-school interventions for attendance, when coupled with behavioural and other interventions can make a significant difference to student attendance.

• Allensworth et. al (2007): freshman year (UK YR10) is a pivotal year for completing secondary education. Attendance percentage in this year group is a better determinant of success at the end of KS5 than YR9 test scores.

• Ready (2010): absence from school serves to widen social divides. If students from low-income backgrounds have worse attendance, the impact this has on them is far greater than those from more affluent families.

• Liu and Loeb (2018): highly engaging teachers can decrease absences by 49%. Personal teacher connections to families can work also to decrease absenteeism.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

 

• What makes improving attendance so important?

• How does engagement link to both student attainment and attendance?

• What interventions can I enact to support my tutees and students to improve their attendance? How can I communicate home to support this?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with Jaya - please comment below! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Bitesize Research: The Impact of 'Teacher Leaders' on Outcomes

This week, I wanted to share with you a study published by the Shen et. al (based at the University of Western Michigan) in 2020.

Objectives of study: To establish what impact ‘teacher leaders’ have on improving student outcomes and educational experiences. Teacher leadership here is defined as the process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement. Importantly, teacher leadership is not just those who are ‘middle leaders’ or ‘senior leaders’ under this definition.

Summary of findings:  

• Of the different dimensions of teacher leadership, the dimensions of ‘facilitating improvements in curriculum, instruction and assessment’ and ‘promoting teacher professional development’ have the strongest relationship with student academic achievement.

• There is a slightly stronger relationship between teacher leadership and achievement in Maths, than in achievement in reading.

• There was no moderating impact in the relationship seen between different types of teacher leadership including teacher empowerment and distributed leadership.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How can I be a teacher leader when looking at the curriculum, instruction and assessment?

• How can I facilitate and promote professional development in the others around me?

• What makes an excellent teacher leader? How can I embody these qualities?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me (Jaya) - please do comment below! Start the discussion!