Evaluation of the Gaining Ground Strategy

a report by Matthew Walker, David Sims, Sarah Lynch and Ben Durbin (NFER) and Laura Henderson and Marian Morris (SQW) published by the Department for Education as Research Report DFE-RR216

Summary

This report sets out the findings from an evaluation of the impact and value for money of the Gaining Ground Strategy. The strategy was launched with a budget of £40 million and ran for two years (September 2009 to July 2011). It supported school improvement in secondary schools that had reasonable-to-good GCSE examination results, but had poor progression rates in English and mathematics.

The strategy comprised four main strands focusing on: school-to-school partnership working; additional support from School Improvement Partners (SIPs); additional training in Assessment for Learning (AfL); and study support. This report focuses on the impacts and legacy arising from the strategy.

Includes:

• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Schools’ priorities and expectations
• Use of Gaining Ground resources
• Impact of the Gaining Ground Strategy
• Legacy of the strategy
• Issues and challenges
• NPD modelling

Full text of report (PDF 108pp)
technical appendices (PDF 104pp)

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