Originally posted on Eponymous :
. This post investigates what PISA 2015 results reveal about: Progress towards the government’s 2020 national performance targets; and Trends in the comparative performance of England’s high attainers. It complements a parallel post about the TIMSS 2015 results – Troubling TIMSS trends (December 2015). . About PISA The results of the…
Originally posted on Eponymous :
. This post examines ministerial targets for improving England’s educational performance by 2020, as measured by international comparisons studies. It explores the evolution of these targets, how they might be interpreted and the prospects for achieving them given likely outcomes from the next round of reports, scheduled for publication in December…
This post takes a closer look at the PISA concept of ‘resilient students’ – essentially a measure of disadvantaged high attainment amongst 15 year-olds – and how this varies from country to country. The measure was addressed briefly in my recent review of the evidence base for excellence gaps in England but there was…Read more Beware the ‘short head’: PISA’s Resilient Students’ Measure
. This post compares the performance of high achievers from selected jurisdictions on the PISA 2012 creative problem solving test. It draws principally on the material in the OECD Report ‘PISA 2012 Results: Creative Problem Solving’ published on 1 April 2014. The sample of jurisdictions includes England, other English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland and the…Read more PISA 2012 Creative Problem Solving: International Comparison of High Achievers’ Performance
. This post examines what PISA 2012 can tell us about the comparative performance of high achievers in England, other English-speaking countries and those that top the PISA rankings. It draws on a similar range of evidence to that deployed in my post on the PISA 2009 results (December 2010). A more recent piece, ‘The…Read more PISA 2012: International Comparison of High Achievers’ Performance
. This post examines the comparative performance of high achievers in recent international comparisons studies, principally the 2011 TIMSS and PIRLS assessments. More specifically, it compares: The proportion of learners in selected countries who achieve the highest ‘advanced’ benchmarks in TIMSS 2011 maths and science assessments at Grades 4 and 8 respectively and in the…Read more The Performance of Gifted High Achievers in TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA
This post is an initial review of what PISA 2009 tells us about the performance of gifted high achievers in England and other English-speaking countries compared with the countries at the top of the PISA 2009 rankings. It concentrates on what we can deduce from the figures rather than causation: that will be addressed in…Read more PISA 2009: International Comparisons of Gifted High Achievers’ Performance
. This post takes a closer look at Maths Hubs, exploring the nature of the model, their early history and performance to date. It reflects on their potential contribution to the education of the ‘mathematically most able’ and considers whether a similar model might support ‘most able education’. . I can offer no higher praise…Read more Will Maths Hubs Work?
. This post reviews the Sutton Trust’s Research Brief ‘Missing Talent’, setting it in the context of the Trust’s own priorities and the small canon of research on excellence gaps in the English education system. It is structured as follows: Background on what has been published and my own involvement in researching and debating these…Read more Missing Talent
. This post scrutinises the arguments advanced by Teach First in defence of reallocating Pupil Premium away from disadvantaged learners with middle or high prior attainment. . Background On 29 April, Teach First responded formally to my campaign against their proposal that the Pupil Premium budget should be redistributed so that learners with low prior…Read more Fisking Teach First’s defence of its pupil premium policy
Gifted Phoenix 