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Education

Grammar school plans beneficial to just six areas in England, experts suggest

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

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Plans to expand grammar schools in England would benefit just six of the 152 local authorities in England – less than four per cent of the country – new analysis has revealed.

An Education Policy Institute (EPI) report said the vast majority of local authorities would not pass the series of checks required for new grammar school to be placed or expanded on.

The think tank tested more than 32,800 districts against four criteria, which it called “consistent” with the “principles” laid out in the Government’s “schools that work for everyone” consultation plans.

The extensive study found selective schools could be a harmful addition to areas where more than half of top performing pupils could access grammar school places.

The government has criticised the findings, however, labelling the report a “crude attempt” to second-guess the results of its consultation for new schools.

Just Solihull, Essex, North Yorkshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire and North Somerset could experience an attainment boost from grammar schools, according to the report.

Researchers concluded that if the Government wants to use the set of tests laid out by the institute, they will find creating new grammar school places challenging.

 They added: “Expanding existing grammar schools is likely in a majority of such areas to reduce the average attainment of disadvantaged pupils and is therefore unlikely to improve social mobility.”

“A more promising approach in the most disadvantaged and low attaining areas may therefore be to focus on increasing the quality of existing non-selective school places.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Once again the Education Policy Institute have come up with the right questions about the Government’s desire to increase grammar schools. The answers in their report must make uncomfortable reading for ministers.

”Faced with the overwhelming evidence, from international sources, from research and from the evidence of the current effects of selection in England, a government interested in evidence based policy would back off from a bad idea.“

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: ”This report is highly speculative. We held a consultation to help us establish how we can create more good school places for children of all backgrounds by removing the ban on grammar schools and this report is a crude attempt to second guess what that consultation will conclude.

“Independent organisations have recognised the transformative impact grammar schools can have on the lives of disadvantaged young people.

”Our consultation closes on December 12 and we look forward to considering all the responses.”

[Source:- independent]

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Education

New grammar schools would benefit just six areas, says study

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Pupil

There are only six areas in England where parents want new grammar schools and creating them would benefit the wider school population, a study says.

The Education Policy Institute modelled the impact of government plans to expand selective schools by looking at how 32,844 districts would be affected.

The think tank applied the government’s conditions for allowing new schools.

The government called the study a crude attempt to second-guess the results of its consultation on new schools.

The researchers began by constructing a set of tests mirroring the conditions for new grammars set out in the government’s White Paper, Schools that Work for Everyone.

These were that they:

  • should not be to the detriment of pupils who miss out
  • need to be in areas where there are sufficient numbers of pupils who could attend
  • should not undermine existing high-performing schools
  • are only in areas where parents want them

They found that broader education levels would be harmed if new selective schools were created in areas where more than half of highly attaining pupils could access grammar school places.

This “no detriment” principle knocked out just under 30% of areas.

They then excluded any area that did not have at least 150 pupils with high prior attainment who lived within a reasonable travelling distance.

This disqualified a further 1% of areas.

The researchers then excluded areas which already had high-performing non-selective schools, whose fortunes could be harmed by the introduction of new grammar schools.

This left just under a fifth of areas.

When these areas were cross-referenced with the 37 local authority areas which expressed strong support for new grammars in a recent YouGov poll, just six areas remained.

These were Solihull, Essex, North Yorkshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire and North Somerset, all of which have fewer disadvantaged pupils than the national average.

The study added that expansion principles would be met only in parts of each local authority area.

“We therefore conclude that it will be difficult for the government to identify areas for grammar school expansion that will avoid damage to pupils who do not access the new selective places, where there is public demand for new selective places and high disadvantage,” the researchers said.

‘Complete mess’

The EPI’s chairman, David Laws, said his organisation’s analysis showed that the provision of additional grammar school places in England would be unlikely to be an effective strategy to boost social mobility.

“The additional analysis that we have now published highlights further significant challenges which face the government if ministers decide to press on with these proposals.”

Labour’s shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said the report “joins the mountains of evidence that proves a return to grammar schools will not improve education for all, but will actively make things worse”.

Ms Rayner said the grammar proposals were “a distraction” to cover up problems created over the past six years: “a teacher shortage crisis, thousands of children in super-sized classes, school budget cuts and not enough good school places”.

The National Union of Teachers called the plans “a complete mess”.

“It is simply not possible to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils while also increasing the number of selective schools,” said NUT general secretary Kevin Courtney.

The Association of School and College Leaders also believes that expanding grammars will damage rather than improve poor children’s prospects.

“The attainment gap between poor children and other pupils is one of the biggest challenges we face in the education system, but more selection is simply not the solution,” said ASCL’s interim general secretary, Malcolm Trobe.

And in a letter to Education Secretary Justine Greening, 33 head teachers from Kent call for the county’s selective education system to be abandoned.

The heads, all from non-selective schools, say selection “serves to erode self-confidence, to limit aspirations and develop a culture of ‘second best’ that good leaders in non-selective schools then spend time undoing so that they can unlock the students’ true potential”.

Kent has one of the widest gaps between the achievement of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, say the heads.

“The very existence of a two-tier selective system is the biggest cause of this inequality,” they add.

‘Transformative impact’

But a spokeswoman for the DfE dismissed the findings, noting that its own consultation on removing the ban from grammar schools closes on Monday.

She said: “This report is a crude attempt to second-guess what that consultation will conclude.

“Independent organisations have recognised the transformative impact grammar schools can have on the lives of disadvantaged young people.

“Our consultation closes on 12 December and we look forward to considering all the responses.”

[Source:- BBC]

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Online Marketing

SIX WAYS BIG DATA CAN REFINE YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING EFFORTS

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

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What’s the one thing that all digital marketers must know? The fact that data is king on today’s marketing landscape. Having comprehensive and accurate data is essential for making effective marketing decisions. It can help executives identify industry trends and discover potential customers, making big data analysis important for optimizing your marketing strategies.

Enterprise leaders want to monetize their digital assets, promote an information-driven culture and leverage the full potential of their big data systems. However, most marketers fail to achieve these objectives because they deploy their data scientists poorly. In addition, they don’t devote enough attention to their data-driven initiatives and cast their data science specialists in ineffective, mismatched roles.

Other executives view the innovative resource from the wrong perspective; they mistakenly believe big data projects are solely a technical, administrative organizational feature — rather than a mission-critical operational undertaking. Still, others, fail to recognize that veteran executives may be resistant to change and neglect to position their unwitting data science team for a successful big data project launch.

The Numbers Reveal the Strength of Big Data

According to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, core offerings generate 75-percent of most enterprises’ revenues — of which marketing executives undervalue and underprice at a rate of 30-percent. To understand how this impacts overall revenues, realize that a 1-percent across-the-board price hike would generate 8.7-percent in increased gross profits with no impact on sales volume.

44-percent of enterprises use data analytics and mining to boost consumer response rates and generate insights that guide executives in developing relationship-driven strategies, according to marketing consulting firm Forrester Research. Furthermore, according to a report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), 58-percent of chief marketing officers (CMOs) believe that search engine optimization (SEO), as well as email and mobile communications, are the areas where big data systems are having the largest impact on their organizations.

Here are six ways that big data can help enterprise leaders avoid these mistakes and position themselves to refine and improve their marketing efforts.

Use the Right Keywords With the Help of Big Data

If you don’t understand your customers’ behaviour, then how can you effectively market your products? The use of big data can help identify how visitors are finding your website and what keywords they used to get there. Understanding this information will allow you to explore related keywords and focus on the ones that drive the most traffic.

Big data can also help you optimize your website so that when potential customers arrive, they see the products that interest them most. With this in-depth understanding, you can select which products to show different segments of your consumer base and effectively optimize sales.

How Successful Was Your Last Campaign?

Big data can help you identify the success of your last marketing campaign. The online marketing landscape has changed relatively recently, and the number of businesses participating in this change has never been greater.

Each year over 5.3 trillion display ads are served to internet users. In order to stand out, your advertising initiatives need to pop. Using big data will help you to streamline your campaigns and target customers who are most likely to respond so that you can make the most out of your marketing budget.

Use Data to Load Your Content with Statistics

Content can serve as an initial touch point that funnels consumers toward a desired action. When creating content, you need to know what your customers might look for and what they might find interesting.

Using data, you can discover key insights into customer behaviour that helps you to create quality content and increase audience engagement. For instance, if your audience consists of a younger demographic, you want to use language that appeals to that generation.

Use Data Analysis to Choose Marketing Channels

Americans look at their phones an average of 47 times a day. Potential customers shop differently when they are on a mobile device rather than a desktop. Analyzing mobile user data will help refine your customer acquisition process and increase your mobile shopper conversions.

Technology and big data have changed the process of finding new customers. Business leaders who understand how to use data analysis will be able to stay on top of technological trends such as mobile marketing.

Uncover New or Potential Target Audiences

In order to grow your enterprise, you need to do more than keep your existing customers happy — you need to find new business. Big data can help you find new audiences and determine which groups are more likely to buy.

When evaluating new potential audiences, it’s important to know their intent. Understanding this will help you to develop relevant content. For example, are they using your app to relax or are they actively looking to buy a product or service? Using big data can help you to customize your content accordingly.

Real-time data is extremely valuable and can provide you with insights that further your understanding of the intent and mindset of your audience. Using tools like Quantcast can help business owners find relevant target audiences and grow that asset to create a larger customer base.

Better Analytics Lead to Optimal Design

With big data providing key insights into user preferences, business owners are now able to create optimal designs at a lower cost. This improves their ability to influence consumers.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, as well as access to volumes of data about consumer preferences now, allow you to discover how to optimize branded items, such as customized logos with colours and font styles that boost consumer engagement. With data analytics optimization you can lower design costs and increase revenues.

By utilizing these six methods, you can be sure to refine your marketing efforts and optimize your current campaigns. But don’t think that the job is done there. Once optimized, be sure to continue analyzing the data and making continual tweaks.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

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