The attainment and progress of twins at the start of school

Summary

This paper considers cognitive differences between twins and other higher multiple births when they start school and their progress in reading and maths during the first year at school. The data came from the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) project which has developed an on‐entry assessment designed to provide a solid base against which the relative progress (value added) of pupils can be measured. Some of the findings were surprising, in that they appeared to be in conflict with some earlier work, but there was also some agreement. Additionally, teachers were asked to assess pupils on the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) scale at the end of their first year in school, and this information was used to check out an earlier rinding that twins were more prone to score highly on this scale.

Key Words:

• twins
• ADHD
• value added
• primary school
• literacy
• maths