Stoke-on-Trent Research School by The Keele and North Staffordshire Alliance Newsletter

Issue #2

Spring term

NEW GUIDANCE TO SUPPORT SCHOOLS TO PUT EVIDENCE TO WORK IN THEIR CLASSROOMS

A new guidance report from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) aims to give schools the support they need to put evidence to work in their classrooms and implement new programmes and approaches effectively.

Putting Evidence to Work: A School’s Guide to Implementation highlights how good and thoughtful implementation is crucial to the success of any teaching and learning strategy. It offers six evidence-based recommendations to help schools give their innovations the very best chance by working. The guidance can be applied to any school improvement decision: programmes of practices; whole school or targeted approach; internally or externally generated ideas.

Read the report

EVIDENCE FOR IMPACT

A new version of the Evidence 4 Impact (E4I) website is now live. E4I is an independent service that provides teachers and school leaders with accessible information on which educational interventions have been shown to be effective. It uses a simple evidence rating system to show whether an intervention’s effectiveness has been established.

The new website rates interventions by their impact on a range of educational outcomes at primary or secondary level including maths, reading, writing and science. You can tailor results to the specific needs of a class or school, and the data be easily searched by key stage, targeted group and type of practice.

APPLICATIONS FOR STRATEGIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT FUND NOW OPEN

The third round of applications for the Department for Education's Strategic School Improvement Fund is now open. To help ensure the Fund is spent in ways that are most likely to make a difference to pupil outcomes, the EEF is providing support to potential applicants on how to develop evidence-informed projects.

Find out more

BLOG: PUTTING EVIDENCE TO WORK IN YOUR CLASSROOM

“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how great an educational idea or intervention is in principle; what really matters is how it manifests itself in the day-to-day work of people in schools.” Shaun Allison, Director of Durrington Research School, introduces the EEF’s latest guidance report, Putting Evidence to Work: A School’s Guide to Implementation.

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BLOG: 15 KEY LESSONS LEARNED IN THE EEF’S FIRST SIX YEARS

The EEF recently published a report on the attainment gap. Together with an analysis of the attainment gap in England on a range of measures, it includes 15 key lessons on closing the attainment gap from the EEF’s first six years.

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EEF’S PROMISING PROJECTS PAGES

The Promising Projects section on EEF’s website is a collection of EEF evaluation reports that have demonstrated a positive impact on pupil attainment in English schools. There are sixteen projects showcased – approximately 20% of EEF’s published trials – ranging from early years to Key Stage 4 and focusing on a variety of topics: literacy, numeracy, writing, metacognition, oral language.

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researchED

researchED is on a mission to raise research literacy amongst teachers, bring people together, promote collaboration, increase awareness, promote research and explore what works. These values chime with the work of the Research Schools Network, and a number of our Research Schools are hosting researchED events.

Stoke-on-Trent Research School - Training Opportunities

The Research School will offer an additional professional learning opportunity which is focusing on the EFF Implementation Guidance Report. This will consist of a three-hour workshop aimed at colleagues working in schools in receipt of ‘Essential Life Skills’ [ELS] grant-funding. The session will be repeated on the following dates:  24th May 2018 and 27th June 2018 [both taking place, between 0900–1200, at the Bridge Centre in Stoke-on-Trent]. The fee, to attend one of the sessions, is £50 + VAT and this will be met by schools in receipt of the funding. The link, for booking, is below.

Furthermore, the Research School is offering four more professional learning opportunities.Each of the four strands of activity consists of a series of three [3-hour] interactive workshops. These all take place at the Bridge Centre in Stoke-on-Trent. Sessions take place between 2-5pm on the dates shown below. The fee, to attend all three of the associated sessions is £90 + VAT. Refreshments will be provided.

EEF Toolkit/Guidance Report - Literacy
20/3/18   7/6/18   3/7/18

EEF Toolkit/Guidance Report – Science.
'Thinking, talking, doing Science'.
28/3/18   25/5/18   21/6/18

EEF Toolkit/Guidance Report - Mathematics
6/3/18   3/5/18   21/6/18

EEF Toolkit - for Middle Leaders
27/3/18   17/4/18   12/6/18

The professional learning sessions will focus on introducing subject specialists to the Education Endowment Foundation [EEF] Toolkit research base and will examine how practitioners might draw upon this evidence to in-form and improve practice. There will be a focus on the transition between KS2 and 3 for subject leaders in Mathematics and Science. For middle leaders, there will be a focus on how practitioners might develop their skills in research design, data-collection and analysis. The course will be of interest to both subject leaders and guidance/pastoral leaders and any aspiring research leads.

To book please follow this link: https://knste-shaw.org.uk/stoke-on-trent-research-school-training-booking-form/