Re: England: schools alone 'cannot help poor'

[monicalucido@comcast.net]

Hi, Monty.
Is there a way to get a copy of the actual study that these folks did?

Thanks,
Joe Lucido
EPATA
Ed Roundtable
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> Now if only they test them regularly -- oops, they already do! Monty
>  
> Schools alone 'cannot help poor' 
> Children from disadvantaged backgrounds need to do more than just attend a good 
> school to boost their educational achievement, a report has claimed. 
> The report for charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted how a quarter of 
> poor children in England gain five good GCSEs compared with half of all pupils. 
> 
> School quality accounted for a fraction of variations in achievement, it said. 
> 
> Family disadvantage is passed on from one generation to the next in a cycle of 
> underachievement, it added. 
> 
> The report said that factors such as how children felt about themselves and 
> their learning also needed to be tackled. 
> 
> 'Chavs and posh' 
> 
> The report, which summarises the findings of eight earlier projects for the 
> charity's education and poverty programme, seeks to understand the well-known 
> correlation between poverty and low educational performance. 
> 
> Parents who were making a choice between low income and long hours found it hard 
> to give children good life chances, the report added. 
> 
> It claimed that just 14% of the difference between individual's performance was 
> down to the quality of the school. 
> 
> Report author Donald Hirsch said: "What this means is that if you simply looked 
> at factors which varied from one school to another - there would not be that 
> much difference in educational performance. 
> 
> "Looking at children's social background had much more of an impact." 
> 
> 
>      This research did not imply that poorer parents don't care about their 
> children's education 
>       Joseph Rowntree Foundation report  
> 
> Children were highly aware of their social position and the limitations it 
> placed upon them. 
> 
> Many had clear stereotypes of "chavs" and "posh" children, the report found. 
> 
> And children from different backgrounds had different attitudes to their 
> learning and schools, which were developed at an early age. 
> 
> For example, those in disadvantaged schools complained that they were shouted at 
> by teachers, whereas those in more advantaged schools did not mention this. 
> 
> The children concluded that those who had been able to develop reading and 
> writing outside school were more confident and had higher self-esteem, the 
> report said. 
> 
> Mr Hirsch added that if children did not feel confident about their learning 
> they were reluctant to invest effort into it. 
> 
> Low incomes 
> 
> What did help was more activities outside school which could help children 
> develop their confidence. 
> 
> Out-of-school activities should not be just an add-on, the report said, instead 
> they were absolutely central to raising achievement. 
> 
> The report also found children in advantaged homes not only had more help with 
> their homework but more physical space to do it. 
> 
> "This research did not imply that poorer parents don't care about their 
> children's education. 
> 
> "Many parents on low incomes lack the resources that allow them to help out, to 
> provide conducive environments or to access relevant services," it added. 
> 
> The arrival of extended schools, which will provide homework clubs and help for 
> children and families, offered the opportunity for children from disadvantaged 
> backgrounds to experience some out of school learning that better off children 
> had access to, the report said. 
> 
> Wider opportunities 
> 
> But Mr Hirsch said there was a risk they would reinforce the negative 
> perceptions that some disengaged children already had of school and learning. 
> 
> Schools minister Lord Adonis said helping children from disadvantaged 
> backgrounds was one of the government's key objectives. 
> 
> The report's findings chimed with many of the things the government was already 
> doing, he said. 
> 
> "We will continue to focus on making sure every child can fulfil all aspects of 
> their potential, regardless of their background." 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Story from BBC NEWS:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/6982090.stm
> 
> Published: 2007/09/06 23:03:53 GMT
> 
> © BBC MMVII
> 
> Monty Neill, Ed.D.
> Co-Executive Director
> FairTest
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