Around the world, governments, charities, and other bodies are concerned
with improving education, especially for the lowest-attaining and most
disadvantaged students. Making Schools Better for Disadvantaged
Students presents detailed research into how poverty affects student
segregation and underachievement in schools. It contains the first ever
large-scale evaluation of how funding can best be used to lower the
poverty attainment gap for disadvantaged students.
Drawing on a wealth of empirical research from England, India, and
Pakistan as well as worldwide reviews of relevant studies, the book
presents high-quality evidence on the impact of funding policy
initiatives, such as the Pupil Premium funding in England, and the many
variations of similar schemes worldwide. It analyses education measures
which have been put in place and discusses ways in which these can be
used efficiently and fairly to allocate funding to students who are
persistently at risk of underachievement. The book is unique in
synthesising many forms of evidence from around the world and finding a
definition of educational disadvantage that can be used fairly across
different contexts.
Offering significant implications for ways to improve educational
outcomes for disadvantaged students, the book will be essential reading
for students of education policy, sociology of education and educational
practices, and all researchers, school leaders, and policy-makers
working in this area.
