The long-term impact of effective teaching

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the impact of effective schooling in the 1st year of elementary school on later academic outcomes and equal educational opportunity. A large longitudinal dataset from England was used to estimate the importance of the 1st year of elementary school for academic outcomes up to age 16. Multilevel models, controlling for baseline assessment, deprivation, sex, and ethnic status, showed that classes in the 1st year differed substantially in their progress but did not vary in their impact on equity. Those classes defined as effective and students from those classes were tracked on 3 further occasions up to the age of 16 and compared with others. Being in an effective class in the 1st year of school, when the children were aged 4 to 5 years, was significantly related to later attainment at age 16 (Effect Size = 0.2). However, it was unrelated to equity at age 16.

KEYWORDS:

• First school year
• longitudinal
• equity
• impact
• effectiveness
• elementary school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Durham University [NA].

Notes on contributors

Peter Tymms

Peter Tymms is Director of iPIPS, an international study of children starting school. He was Head of Department at Durham University until 2013 and before that Director of CEM at Durham University. His main research interests include monitoring, assessment, interventions, and research methodology generally. He set up the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) project, which runs in thousands of schools around the world.

Christine Merrell

Christine Merrell is the Director of Research and Development at the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM), and Professor in the School of Education, Durham University, Durham, UK. Her research interests are assessment development and monitoring the progress of children through primary school, the development of children in the early years, and prediction of later attainment, including children who are severely inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive.

Katharine Bailey

Katharine Bailey is Director of Applied Research at the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University. She has research interests in assessment development and how reporting from these assessments can support teachers in making valid interpretations to guide pupil learning.