Policy Analysis Using the National Pupil Database

Date:

03/08/2015 - 05/08/2015

Organised by:

University of Southampton/ADRC-E

Presenter:

Prof Lorraine Dearden, Dr Rebecca Allen, Mr Dave Thomson, Dr Mike Treadaway

Level:

Intermediate (some prior knowledge)

Contact:

adrce@southampton.ac.uk

Map:

View in Google Maps  (WC1E 7HX)

Venue:

Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London

Description:

Course places are limited and registration by 27 July 2015 is strongly recommended.

Course number: ADRCE-training022 Dearden

Course Summary

This 3-day course gives hands-on experience of using the National Pupil Database (NPD) to evaluate the impact of policies and interventions on pupils. It covers an introduction to all the pupil background and attainment indicators that are contained in the NPD; administrative and survey data that can be used to supplement the NPD; and different approaches to using the NPD to measure impact. Participants are expected to bring an idea of some analysis they would like to carry out and we will develop a plan of analysis on the final day.

 

Course Contents

Day 1 Monday:

9:30am Registration with refreshments

10:00am-11:00am Session 1 – Overview of the National Pupil Database and the pupil census (Becky)

11:00am-11:30am break with refreshments

11:30am-12:30pm Session 2 – FSP, KS1 and KS2 (Lorraine)

12:30pm-1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm-2:30pm Session 3 – Improving pupil socio-demographic measures (Bilal)

2:30pm-3:00pm break with refreshments

3:00pm-4:00pm Session 4 – Other sources of information on schools (Becky)

 

Day 2 Tuesday:

9:30am-10:00am refreshments

10:00am-11:00am Session 1 – KS4 (Mike)

11:00am-11:30am break with refreshments

11:30am-12:30pm Session 2 – Dealing with measures in NPD that change over time (Mike)

12:30pm-1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm-2:30pm-Session 3 – What happens after age 16? Using KS5, ILP, HESA and WPLS (Dave)

2:30pm-3:00pm break with refreshments

3:00pm-4:00pm Session 4 – Use of NPD in social surveys – MCS, ALSPAC, LSYPE (Bilal)

 

Day 3 Wednesday:

9:30am-10:00am refreshments

10:00am-11:00am Session 1 – The evaluation problem, difference and D-in-D approaches (Lorraine)

11:00am-11:30am break with refreshments

11:30am-12:30pm Session 2 – Matching pupils using PSM and simple expected attainment (Lorraine)

12:30pm-1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm-2:30pm-Session 3 – Evaluating school-level interventions using matching, value-added and families of schools approaches (Becky)

2:30pm-3:00pm break with refreshments

3:00pm-4:00pm Session 4 – Designing your research project (Becky and Lorraine)

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants should understand how NPD can be used to conduct quantitative analysis of an intervention or policy.

 

Computer Software and Computer workshops

This event includes computer workshops. We will use Excel and SPSS/Stata (all exercises are provided in both SPSS and Stata to meet participants preference)

 

Presenters

Prof Lorraine Dearden is Professor of Economics and Social Statistics at the Institute of Education, UCL and Director of the NCRM Programme Evaluation and Policy Analysis (PEPA) Node at the IFS.  Lorraine has wide experience of using the National Pupil Database to evaluate government initiatives and policies and is an expert on non-experimental evaluation methods.

Dr Rebecca Allen is Director of Education Datalab, on leave from her academic post as Reader in Economics of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her research into school choice and school effectiveness makes extensive use of the National Pupil Database.

Dave Thomson is Chief Statistician at FFT with over fifteen years’ experience working with educational attainment data in local government, higher education and the commercial sector. He has extensive experience of working with schools and school improvement professionals in using data to raise attainment.

Dr Mike Treadaway is Director of Research at FFT and has over 20 years of experience in working with education data in the context of school improvement. Over the past 13 years at FFT, Mike has developed FFT’s models for analysing pupil progress, has led the processing, matching and data analysis for the National Pupil Database, and has provided advice and consultancy to DfE to support the development of new school accountability indicators and analysis of national trends in school performance.

 

Target Audience

This course is aimed at researchers in any sector (academic, government, non-governmental) who plan to use the National Pupil Database in their research or work.

 

Course Materials

Participants will receive written course notes.

 

Pre-requisites

During the course we will use SPSS and Stata for the computer exercises. Ideally you will have some experience of using one of these packages.

 

Duration

This is a 3-day course and it is likely to run between 10am and 4.30pm on each day. Detailed Programme will be available soon.

 

Terms and conditions: 12 Cancellation and Refund of Events and Services

http://store.southampton.ac.uk/help/?HelpID=1

Cost:

The fee per day is:
1. £30 - For UK registered postgraduate students
2. £60 - For staff at UK academic institutions, Research Council UK funded researchers, UK public sector staff and staff at UK registered charity organisations
3. £220 - For all other participants
4. Free Place for ADRC-E/ADRN/ADS staff
All fees include course materials, refreshments and lunch; however, they do not include travel and accommodation costs.

Website and registration:

Region:

Greater London

Keywords:

Evaluation Research, Secondary Analysis, SPSS, Stata, Use of Administrative Sources, Quantitative Approaches (general)

Related publications and presentations:

Evaluation Research
Secondary Analysis
SPSS
Stata

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