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<p>The effectiveness of the Opportunity Areas (OAs) in improving educational outcomes
for disadvantaged children is being assessed in 2 main ways.</p><p>My officials sit
on the local partnership boards in each of the 12 areas and work closely with the
relevant local authority to design, procure, and monitor each local board’s chosen
projects. Progress on every single project, across all 12 areas, is assessed on a
monthly basis. Monthly spending figures, along with local intelligence regarding the
take-up and effectiveness of different projects, is reported back to the department
every month and reviewed by the senior official responsible for the programme as a
whole. We continue to receive very positive feedback on the programme from schools
and other stakeholders in each of the 12 areas.</p><p>In addition to this, the programme
is subject to a detailed, formal evaluation process. Given the entrenched nature of
some educational attainment issues, progress on any given measure is always likely
to take time and be incremental. We are monitoring the programme very closely.</p><p>The
evaluation has 3 main elements:</p><ul><li>a qualitative evaluation, for the programme
as a whole, being carried out by an external, independent contractor, the findings
from which will be published in due course;</li><li>5 smaller evaluations looking
at individual projects in particular OAs (Blackpool, Bradford, Hastings, Norwich and
North Yorkshire Coast), the findings from which will be published in the spring or
summer of 2021; and</li><li>an internal evaluation by the department’s analysts assessing
the impact of the programme by comparing the progress made in the OAs against similar
non-OA districts.</li></ul><p>Analysis of data from the academic year 2018/19 suggests
the OAs are on a positive trajectory. For example:</p><ul><li>early years outcomes
for disadvantaged pupils have improved in 9 of the 12 OAs;</li><li>phonics results
for all pupils have increased in 10 of the 12 OAs; and</li><li>key stage 2 combined
attainment data for all pupils has increased by more than the national rate (between
2016 and 2019) in 10 of the 12 OAs.</li></ul><p>To give some specific examples of
progress towards the national average:</p><ul><li>in Oldham, the proportion of all
children achieving a good level of development rose 4 percentage points in the academic
year 2018/19, to 68.1%, a significant step towards closing the gap with the national
average, which increased 0.2 percentage points in that same period to 71.5%.</li><li>in
Bradford, the proportion of pupils who achieved the expected level in reading, writing
and maths at Key Stage 2 rose 2.1 percentage points to 62.7% in in the academic year
2018/19, a significant step towards closing the gap with the national average, which
rose by 0.4 percentage points to 65.3% over the same period.</li><li>in Blackpool,
the proportion of children achieving the expected standard in phonics in the academic
year 2018/19 rose by 1.5 percentage points to 82.2%, putting it above the national
average of 81.8%.</li></ul>
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