Promoting Quality and Equity: a dynamic approach to school improvement Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting Quality and Equity: a dynamic approach to school improvement

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

Τhis project aimed to support primary schools in socially disadvantaged areas to use an evidence-based and theory-driven approach to promote students’ basic skills in mathematics. Primary schools in four European countries (Cyprus, England, Greece and Ireland) were supported to develop their own strategies and actions by using the dynamic approach to school improvement (DASI). The proposed approach draws on a dynamic theory on educational effectiveness which has been systematically tested through national and international studies. This theory draws attention to the actions taken at the school and classroom level in order to improve the school learning environment and the quality of teaching. It also refers to quantitative and qualitative characteristics of these factors by giving special attention to the differentiation dimension. Differentiation is not only seen as an aspect of effective teaching, but also as a dimension that should be taken into account in defining school policy for teaching and school policy for improving the school learning environment. Thus, this project has drawn on experiences of previous studies which show that these factors are associated with student learning outcomes and aimed to promote quality and equity at school level.

Specifically, 7 institutions (University of Cyprus, University of Athens, University of Cambridge, University College Dublin, Cyprus International Institute of Management, Eparchiako Grafeio Paideias Lemesou, and Dimotiko Scholio Agiu Dometiu III) in the 4 countries with an expertise in research on school effectiveness and improvement collaborated to help children in socially disadvantaged areas who had not benefited from schooling in terms of acquiring basic skills in mathematics. Αt the beginning of school year 2015-2016, a sample of 72 primary schools in the four countries was selected and randomly split into the experimental and control groups. The experimental group made use of DASI, whereas support was offered to the control group in developing their improvement strategies and action plans. By following this design, we were able to conduct summative evaluation of DASI and to seek its impact on: a) Student achievement gains in mathematics; b) Reducing the gaps in learning outcomes in mathematics among students with differences in their background characteristics, such as SES, gender, and ethnicity; c) Improving the school learning environment; and d) Improving the school policy on teaching. To achieve these aims, the country teams measured student achievement in mathematics in grades 4, 5 and 6 at the beginning and at the end of the intervention by using criterion-reference tests. Also, information was collected on student background factors through a student questionnaire at the end of the intervention. Finally, by using a teacher questionnaire the country teams managed to measure the school level factors of the dynamic model which refer to the school policy for teaching and for creating a learning environment at school. Schools of the experimental group received training on the dynamic theory and its use for promoting quality and equity in education. Support to design their improvement strategies and action plans was also provided on a systematic basis and though a specific handbook. In addition, attention was given to the development of internal mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the intervention in order to continuously adapt their action plans. Finally, a value-added approach was used to evaluate the impact of DASI.

Cross-countries analysis revealed that students of schools implementing DASI managed to achieve better results in mathematics than schools in the control group. Within-country analyses revealed positive effects of DASI on student achievement gains in each country. These findings revealed that DASI had an impact on the quality dimension. With regard to the effect of DASI on the equity dimension, the impact of SES on student achievement was similar at the beginning of the intervention in both the experimental and the control schools. However, at the end of the intervention, the direct impact of SES on student achievement was smaller in schools implementing DASI. In addition, the total effect of SES on achievement gradually increased in the control group, whereas in the experimental group remained the same. This means that the initial gap in achievement based on SES increased in the control schools but no further increase was observed in the experimental schools. DASI was found to have an impact not only on the quality, but also on the equity dimension of effectiveness. Additionally, only the schools in the experimental group managed to improve the functioning of their school factors and it was also demonstrated that DASI had an impact on student achievement through improvement of the school factors. This project draws implications for research, policy and practice on how to promote both quality and equity in education.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 313877 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS & Country: CY

Project Partners

• CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT LIMITED LBG
• UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
• ETHNIKO KAI KAPODISTRIAKO PANEPISTIMIO ATHINON
• DIMOTIKO SCHOLIO AGIU DOMETIU III
• Eparchiako Grafeio Paideias Lemesou
• THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE