Initial assessments at primary level – 2007 and 2010
In 2007, pupils took tests in English reading and mathematics and completed a questionnaire about their attitudes to school and leisure pursuits. Their parents and teachers were also asked to complete brief questionnaires. In schools in the urban dimension of the SSP, pupils in Second, Third and Sixth classes were involved and in the rural dimension of the SSP, Third and Sixth class pupils were involved.
Testing was repeated in the same schools and with many of the same pupils in the spring of 2010. At this point, Fifth class pupils were added to the testing programme, the purpose of which was to provide a second cohort of pupils for longitudinal study in the 3-year testing cycle (i.e., 2nd to 5th class). Outcome data showed that pupil achievement in urban schools had increased significantly between 2007 and 2010 in both reading and mathematics at all grade levels (Weir & Archer, 2011).
DEIS in urban primary school settings
Testing was repeated in the sample of urban schools in May 2013, and this revealed that the gains made between 2007 and 2010 had not only been maintained but have been built upon. A report describing cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in pupils’ achievement was published in late 2013 (Weir & Denner, 2013).
A fourth round of testing took place in May 2016 in a sample of 118 urban schools and involving 17,000 students (see Kavanagh, Weir & Moran, 2017). Contextual information on pupils’ lives and learning has also been collected from pupils, their parents and their teachers. A 2018 report summarises the contextual information collected between 2007 and 2016, and explores links between achievement outcomes and pupil, family and school characteristics and practices (Kavanagh & Weir, 2018).
DEIS in rural primary school settings
Investigating the nature of disadvantage in rural areas represents an ongoing aspect of the Centre’s programme of work. Accounts of the evaluation in rural schools, and characteristics of disadvantage in rural areas, are also available (Weir & McAvinue, 2013; Weir, Errity & McAvinue, 2015). The evaluation in rural schools revealed qualitative and quantitative differences in educational disadvantage in urban and rural areas, and pointed to a much stronger relationship between poverty and educational outcomes in urban DEIS schools than in rural ones.
