Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Explaining the Impressive Academic Performance of Disadvantaged Pupils in London

(Education)

The issue of how to promote educational excellence in urban areas with large concentrations of low-income pupils is a vexing one that has proved to be a challenge in all developed countries. One bright spot is London, where the academic performance of primary and secondary school pupils has improved dramatically since the late 1990s and now exceeds national averages. Strikingly, the improvement is largely attributable to achievement gains of low-income students in the 13 boroughs of Inner London which have high concentrations of low-income and ethnic minority students. These changes, which have come to be known as the “London Effect,” have been confirmed by data on the performance of secondary students on the Graduate Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The purpose of this panel is to explore various explanations for the London Effect. One paper uses national data at the secondary level to examine the hypothesis that it reflects London’s large and growing population of ethnic minorities, who tend to achieve at higher than other students. The second paper uses a combination of administrative and survey data to suggest that improvements in the achievement of primary school improvement is attributable largely to improvements in school quality rather than to differences or changes in the effects of pupil and family characteristics. The final paper hones in on policy changes in two Inner London boroughs as key factors. The chair of the session is a nationally-known policy-maker who was a key figure in reform efforts in one of the two boroughs.