How ethnicity and achievement interact

Raising Achievement 
and . . .

Attendance

Behaviour / Inclusion

Community and Parents

Early Years

Ethnicity

Gender

Literacy, numeracy and SEN

Out of School hours activities

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Technology

Raising achievement of bilingual learners - background information (Nov.05)

From Ofsted, November 2005, this publication complements the Powerpoint presentation below.

Ofsted note that, whilst, "The evidence suggests that subject teachers' skills are by far the biggest factor in raising the achievement of bilingual students", inclusive teaching and learning strategies that take account of students' language and literacy needs were used by subject teachers in under one fifth of the schools and colleges visited."

This very useful resource contains lots of good ideas, many of which have been around for decades now but have not had a wide enough audience. This could be a key publication.

Raising achievement of bilingual learners   (October 2005)

This comes from Ofsted, October 2005, as a zipped MS Powerpoint presentation. And this format works, making the key issues easier to focus on. Ofsted themselves say that 

"the purpose of this powerpoint presentation is to look at good practice / barriers to achievement in schools and colleges for 16- to 19-year-old bilingual students."

I found much good material here and, after three decades of working with E2L learners, was able to identify with many of the ideas raised and emphasized in the presentation. Some of the strategies for raising the achievement of bilingual learners have been around now for at least two decades, but some are much more recent and exciting. It has to be one of Ofsted's more relevant reports, enhanced by a clear presentation. Well done, Ofsted!!

Achievement of Bangladeshi heritage pupils  (May 2004) 

The purpose of this small-scale survey (nine UK secondary schools) was to explore the educational experience of Bangladeshi pupils in English schools. The report notes that the attainment of Bangladeshi pupils is below national averages but is improving. Fluency in English is seen as an early key factor in improvement. Once this is achieved, Bangladeshi students may out-perform pupils who speak only English, but there are wide variations. Recommendations for action to help raise achievement include:-

• bilingual staff  to build links between schools and Bangladeshi families

• aspects of the cultural heritage of Bangladeshi pupils should be reflected in the curriculum

•  take-up by Bangladeshi pupils of support classes and other
  extra-curricular activities to be monitored and increased

•  further steps taken to encourage Bangladeshi parents to
  become more involved in school life so they can better support
  their children’s education and help them exploit the full range
  of opportunities provided.

Oracy and the educational achievement of bi-lingual pupils: The Impact of bringing ‘Talking Partners’ into Bradford Schools  

In this 2002 pre-print draft, Angie Kotler, Rupert Wegerif and Martin LeVoi, describe a research project designed to explore the hypothesis that underperformance of some ethnically defined groups of children with English as an additional language, results from a lack of those oracy skills that would enable children starting school to reason and reflect effectively in spoken English. The research offered extra support for oracy skills by providing trained adult ‘talking partners’ for young bi-lingual pupils. The findings showed that extra sessions with adult talking partners made a real difference to their spoken English and to their engagement in education.

Managing the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant: Good practice in secondary schools  

From Ofsted, March 31st, 2004. 

As part of its Aiming high: raising the achievement of minority ethnic pupils

strategy, (see below) the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) , in conjunction with Ofsted, here disseminates case studies of schools

which manage their Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) funding

effectively.

It is worth reading, particularly for the examples of good practice, but the concentration of case-study schools mainly in the over-heated South-East is worrying. No mention of schools in Bradford, Rochdale, Oldham or Burnley - where there is equally good practice. A surprising and disappointing omission which is only partially rectified by the inclusion of some Rochdale schools in the equivalent primary report: Managing the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant: Good practice in primary schools

Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils  

This DfES Consultation paper (in MS Word format) was issued March 2003. The paper identified four main characteristics of a successful school:-

Strong Leadership

High Expectations

Effective Teaching and Learning

Parental Involvement 

The document sets out specific proposals for:

Putting in place a national framework to support bilingual pupils, including the roles of both mainstream and specialist staff 
· Raising achievement and reducing exclusions of African Caribbean pupils
· Meeting the needs of highly mobile pupils.

The emphasis is on "maximising delivery through existing policies and programmes at national  level."

I'm not sure there is anything of substance here . . . .

Minority Student Achievement Network Student Survey Nov.2002  

This survey (by the U.S. MSAN) of 40,000 students revealed the importance of 

supportive student-teacher relationships  on student academic performance. Also, what works to motivate students also differs by race. White students were almost twice as likely to say they work hard in response to “teacher demands” as their African American counterparts, while the latter were reported that they work hard in response to “teacher encouragement.”
( www.connectforkids.org )

The Achievement of Black, Caribbean Pupils: Good Practice in Secondary Schools 

This April 2002 report, from Ofsted, on six secondary schools who are helping to raise the achievement of Afro-Caribbean students, says: "The six schools provide, from their varying contexts and histories, positive messages about what can be done not only for Black Caribbean youngsters but also for other groups, including white youngsters, at risk of under-achievement."

The equivalent report on primary schools is The Achievement of Black Caribbean Pupils: Three Successful Primary Schools (HMI 447)

Ethnic Minority Achievement

DfES site to "assist LEAs and Schools to raise achievement of minority ethnic pupils and remove any disparity in attainment." 
(Like other areas of the Standards site this may not be available on a Sunday . . .)

The Relationships Among Achievement, Low Income, and Ethnicity Across Six Groups of Washington State Students  

In this U.S. report, from the Washington School Research Centre, Abbott and Joireman address the question of differences in school level achievement and conclude that previous research has shown that "income is generally a better predictor of student achievement than ethnicity." 

Their own findings agree with this previous research. They find that:- "Across a variety of grades and tests, our results support the conclusion that low income explains a much larger percentage of the variance in academic achievement than ethnicity."

Minority Ethnic Issues in Social Exclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal (link updated 17/8/04)

"People from minority ethnic communities are at disproportionate risk of social exclusion. The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) has looked at minority ethnic issues as an integral part of each piece of its work. This document summarises the minority ethnic issues that have been raised in that work to date and shows how they fit into the context of broader Government policy."