Students’ Academic Attainments at British State and Private Schools

Alice Sullivan – Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, as@ioe.ac.uk

Anthony Heath – Department of Sociology, University of Oxford

Aims• How did the various types of school attended by the NCDS children vary in terms of student intake?•To what extent are differences in academic outcomes for students at the different types of school explained by differences in the characteristics of the children who attended the schools?•Were different students affected differently by the different school sectors?

 

National Child Development Study

• Longitudinal study of a cohort born in Britain in a single week in 1958.

• Sweeps in 1958, 1965, 1969, 1974, 1981, 1991, 1999/2000.

• In 1970s, education system in transition from tripartite to comprehensive.

School Differences in Intake

Direct Grant

Independent Grammar Secondary

Modern Comprehensive

Ability age 11 (%) High 88.7 74.6 89.2 12.5 23.3

Fathers’ occupation (%)

Salariat 57 77 42 17 19

Parents' education (%)

19+ 41.6 52.6 22.1 5.6 7.8

Family structure (%)

Both parents

91.2 85.5 90.8 82.3 84.2

Children in Household (%)

1-2 54.2 57.2 54.3 40.5 41.4

Mothers’ interest in the child’s education (%)

Very interested

79.1 75.8 75.0 27.9 34.4

Mothers’ reading (%)

Most weeks

56.8 63.7 46.2 30.6 31.3

Differences in school characteristics

Direct Grant

Independent Grammar Secondary

Modern Comprehensive

PTA (%) Yes 66.3 33.7 77.3 52.2 67.9

Parent-teacher meetings (%) At least yearly

95.5 83.7 96.3 90.2 93.7

Non-manual (%) 80+ 54.3 85.0 23.5 0.5 1.1

Pupil-teacher ratio Mean 15.7 12.8 16.0 18.0 17.0

Teacher turnover (%) Mean 11.3 13.3 14.0 15.7 15.0

Studying ‘O’ levels (%) Mean 91.1 89.5 95.3 25.7 50.8

School differences in outcomes

Direct Grant

Independent Grammar Secondary

Modern Comprehensive

Examination Results (%)

Mean GCE passes

6.3 5.6 5.6 0.9 1.9

Maths score Age 16 (%)

Mean 67.1 58.1 65.8 32.6 38.1

Reading score Age 16 (%)

Mean 90.3 85.7 89.1 67.0 70.5

Analysis of Test Scores 1 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 School =Direct Grant 29.03*** 3.40*** 7.4*** 4.58* School =Independent 20.00*** 5.07*** 3.63** 4.63 School =Grammar 27.70*** 5.29*** 7.26*** 4.93*** School =Secondary Modern -5.54*** -0.74* -0.86* 0.20 School =Comprehensive 0 0 0 0 Model 1: no controls

Model 2: + controls for intake

Model 3: + school interactions

Model 4: + controls for school characteristics

Analysis of Test Scores 2 Model 3 Test score age 11 12.52 (0.26)*** Test score age 11 squared 2.74 (0.16)*** Direct Grant * Test 11 -1.07 (1.55) Independent * Test 11 0.73 (1.23) Grammar * Test 11 1.05 (1.87) Secondary Modern * Test 11 -1.93 (0.47)*** Comprehensive * Test 11 0 Direct Grant * Test 11 squared -1.92 (0.80)* Independent * Test 11 squared -2.32 (0.75)** Grammar * Test 11 squared -2.65 (0.82)** Secondary Modern * Test 11 squared -0.57 (0.37) Comprehensive * Test 11 squared 0

Analysis of Test Scores 3

Model 4

Parent-teacher meetings 1.22(0.54)*

Streaming 1.45(0.42)**

Setting 0.80(0.41)*

Pupil-teacher ratio -0.02(0.14)

Teacher-turnover -0.17(0.14)

% Non-manual 1.10(0.18)***

% Taking O levels 1.31(0.19)***

Analysis of GCE Passes 1

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 School =Direct Grant 4.41*** 0.94*** 1.75*** 1.11*** School =Independent 3.70*** 1.61*** 1.21*** 1.72** School =Grammar 3.77*** 0.90*** 1.09*** 0.57** School =Secondary Modern -0.93*** -0.25*** -0.32*** -0.12 School =Comprehensive 0 0 0 0

Model 1: no controls

Model 2: + controls for intake

Model 3: + school interactions

Model 4: + controls for school characteristics

Analysis of GCE Passes 2Model 3

Test score age 11 1.35(0.04)***

Test score age 11 squared 0.54(0.02)***

Direct Grant*Test 11 0.06(0.23)

Independent*Test 11 0.60(0.18)**

Grammar*Test 11 0.43(0.25)

Secondary Modern*Test 11 -0.42(0.07)***

Comprehensive*Test 11 0

Direct Grant*Test 11 -0.53(0.12)***

Independent*Test 11 -0.68(0.10)***

Grammar*Test 11 -0.55(0.11)***

Secondary Modern*Test 11 -0.08(0.05)

Comprehensive*Test 11 0

Analysis of GCE Passes 3

Model 4 Pupil-teacher ratio -0.03 (0.02) Teacher turnover 0.00 (0.02) % Nonmanual 0.09 (0.03)*** % Taking O levels 0.32 (0.04)*** % Olevel * Test 11 0.16 (0.03)*** % Olevel * Test 11 squared

-0.08 (0.02)***