Evaluation of Excellence in Cities Primary Pilot 2001-2003
23 November 2005
Available to download from DfE
The Excellence in Cities (EiC) policy was introduced to secondary schools in Phase 1 Partnerships in September 1999 and was extended into other areas in September 2000 and September 2001 (Phase 2 and Phase 3 Partnerships, respectively). EiC targets major urban areas in England, with the broad aims of regenerating schools in deprived settings by raising educational standards, promoting educational partnerships, and sharing and disseminating good practice. The EiC policy was extended to primary schools in spring 2000. This Primary Pilot is based on a partnership between the local education authority (LEA) and participating schools, and involves Learning Mentors who are school-based employees supporting pupils facing barriers to learning, Learning Support Units (LSUs) for pupils who would benefit from time away from the normal classroom, and provision for gifted and talented pupils. Approximately a third of all the primary schools in Phase 1 areas were included in the Primary Pilot, and all of these schools received funding for the Learning Mentor Strand. Sub-sets of these schools were also involved in the LSU and/or Gifted and Talented Strands.
The EiC Primary Pilot has been evaluated by a consortium, led by NFER, which also included the Centre for Educational Research (CER) and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics (LSE), and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). This evaluation covered the period up the the end of the 2002/2003 academic year.