Free to Improve? The Impact of Free School Attendance in England. Discussion Paper No. 1946
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| Title: | Free to Improve? The Impact of Free School Attendance in England. Discussion Paper No. 1946 |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Marco Bertoni, Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren, Olmo Silva, London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) |
| Source: | Centre for Economic Performance. 2023. |
| Availability: | Centre for Economic Performance. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel: +44-20-7955-7673; Fax: +44-20-7404-0612; e-mail: cep.info@lse.ac.uk; Web site: http://cep.lse.ac.uk |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 72 |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Influences, Institutional Autonomy, Secondary Schools, Free Schools, School Effectiveness, Conventional Instruction, Educational Philosophy, Attendance |
| ISSN: | 2042-2695 |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of attending a free school in England -- that is, a new start-up school that enjoys considerable autonomy while remaining in the state sector. We analyse the effects of two secondary free schools with different teaching philosophies: one follows a 'no excuse' paradigm, while the other one adopts a 'classical liberal', knowledge-rich approach. We establish causal effects exploiting admission lotteries and a distance-based regression discontinuity design. Both schools have a strong positive impact on student test scores on average. However, we also find heterogeneous effects: the 'no excuse' school mostly benefits boys, while the 'classical liberal' school mainly benefits White British and non-poor students. Both schools similarly reduce student absences and school mobility. Peer quality, teacher characteristics, and inspectorate ratings cannot fully explain the schools' effectiveness. Instead, a quantitative text analysis of the schools' 'vision and ethos' statements shows that the 'no excuse' and 'classical liberal' philosophies adopted by the two free schools clearly set them apart from the counterfactual schools where rejected applicants enrol, and likely explain their heterogeneous effects. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | ED641134 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 CustomLinks: – Url: https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED641134 Name: ERIC Full Text Category: fullText Text: Full Text from ERIC |
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| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: ED641134 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Report PubTypeId: report PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Free to Improve? The Impact of Free School Attendance in England. Discussion Paper No. 1946 – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Marco+Bertoni%22">Marco Bertoni</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Gabriel+Heller-Sahlgren%22">Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Olmo+Silva%22">Olmo Silva</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22London+School+of+Economics+and+Political+Science+%28United+Kingdom%29%2C+Centre+for+Economic+Performance+%28CEP%29%22">London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Centre+for+Economic+Performance%22"><i>Centre for Economic Performance</i></searchLink>. 2023. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Centre for Economic Performance. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel: +44-20-7955-7673; Fax: +44-20-7404-0612; e-mail: cep.info@lse.ac.uk; Web site: http://cep.lse.ac.uk – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: N – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 72 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2023 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Reports - Research – Name: Audience Label: Education Level Group: Audnce Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink> – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Influences%22">Influences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Institutional+Autonomy%22">Institutional Autonomy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+Schools%22">Secondary Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Free+Schools%22">Free Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Effectiveness%22">School Effectiveness</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Conventional+Instruction%22">Conventional Instruction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Philosophy%22">Educational Philosophy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attendance%22">Attendance</searchLink> – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 2042-2695 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: We investigate the impact of attending a free school in England -- that is, a new start-up school that enjoys considerable autonomy while remaining in the state sector. We analyse the effects of two secondary free schools with different teaching philosophies: one follows a 'no excuse' paradigm, while the other one adopts a 'classical liberal', knowledge-rich approach. We establish causal effects exploiting admission lotteries and a distance-based regression discontinuity design. Both schools have a strong positive impact on student test scores on average. However, we also find heterogeneous effects: the 'no excuse' school mostly benefits boys, while the 'classical liberal' school mainly benefits White British and non-poor students. Both schools similarly reduce student absences and school mobility. Peer quality, teacher characteristics, and inspectorate ratings cannot fully explain the schools' effectiveness. Instead, a quantitative text analysis of the schools' 'vision and ethos' statements shows that the 'no excuse' and 'classical liberal' philosophies adopted by the two free schools clearly set them apart from the counterfactual schools where rejected applicants enrol, and likely explain their heterogeneous effects. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2024 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: ED641134 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=ED641134 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 72 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Influences Type: general – SubjectFull: Institutional Autonomy Type: general – SubjectFull: Secondary Schools Type: general – SubjectFull: Free Schools Type: general – SubjectFull: School Effectiveness Type: general – SubjectFull: Conventional Instruction Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational Philosophy Type: general – SubjectFull: Attendance Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Free to Improve? The Impact of Free School Attendance in England. Discussion Paper No. 1946 Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Marco Bertoni – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Olmo Silva IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 09 Type: published Y: 2023 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 2042-2695 Titles: – TitleFull: Centre for Economic Performance Type: main |
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