The effectiveness of the primary school also shows differential effects on attainment in
Mathematics in relation to how disadvantaged children are in terms of the multiple disadvantage
index. Children with no or just one disadvantage tend to benefit slightly from highly effective
primary schools (ES = 0.14) but not that much from medium effective schools (ES = 0.06)
compared with low effective primary schools. By contrast, more disadvantaged children showed
substantially higher attainment when they attend a highly effective (ES = 0.43) or medium
effective (ES = 0.24) primary school compared to a low effective one.
This is an important finding in relation to reducing the equity gap in achievement because it
demonstrates that primary school academic effectiveness (measured independently by value-
added analyses) is relatively more important as an influence on pupils’ Reading and Mathematics
attainments in Year 5 for children who are more disadvantaged.
2. Parents’ Qualifications and the impact of primary school effectiveness
For these analyses, again, the sample has been divided into two groups according to the highest
qualification level of the parents.
Investigating the differential impact of primary school effectiveness (measured by value added), it
is seen for Reading that children of low qualified parents (no qualification or vocational) do not
seem to benefit substantially from medium or high academic effective primary schools compared
to low effective ones (ES for medium effective = -0.07, ES for highly effective = 0.06). But
children whose parents have at least one academic qualification at age 16 or above have higher
attainment scores when they attend a highly effective primary school (ES = 0.27). Medium
effectiveness only shows a small effect compared to low effectiveness (ES = 0.06).
Results for attainment in Mathematics in Year 5 lead to different interpretations. In Mathematics,
primary school effectiveness is found to be especially important for those whose parents have
low qualification levels. Compared to those who attend low effective primary schools, children of
low qualified parents who go to high (ES = 0.44) or medium academically effective (ES =0.35)
primary schools have significantly higher average Mathematics attainment in Year 5. The
relative effectiveness of the primary school is also important for children of parents with at least
one academic qualification, but the effect sizes 0.26 (highly effective) and 0.10 (medium
effective) are not as strong as those identified for children with less qualified parents.
The Combined impact of Pre-school Experience and Primary School Effectiveness
Given that EPPE 3-11 has demonstrated both the importance of pre-school quality and
effectiveness and the impact of primary school effectiveness for long lasting positive effects on
later cognitive attainments, their joint effects were investigated. We sought to establish whether
going to a high quality or more effective pre-school had a protective effect if a child went on to a
less effective primary school, and whether ‘home’ children or those who went to a less effective
or low quality pre-school did better later if they went to a more effective primary school.
We combined the two measures: pre-school quality and primary school academic effectiveness,
and incorporated them in the same model to explore any interactions between pre-school and
primary school effects. Results for Reading and Mathematics are shown in Figures 3.8 and 3.9.
Due to smaller numbers, to obtain a clearer picture, medium and high effective primary schools
were grouped together. In both cases (Reading and Mathematics) the reference group is no-pre-
school and low effective primary school.
Figure 3.8 illustrates that children who did not attend any pre-school centre benefit if they go to a
medium/high academic effective primary school later (ES 0.17) rather than to a low effectiveness
primary school. Children who attended a low quality pre-school centre show only a very small
benefit from a medium or highly effective primary school. For the groups of children who had
attended a medium or high quality pre-school centre the academic effectiveness of their primary
school made relatively little additional difference to their Reading attainment at Year 5 as the
quality of the pre-school seems to have had a protective effect (if you compare their results with
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