Family incomes data should be linked with pupil attainment statistics to better track outcomes for persistently disadvantaged pupils, a new report has recommended.
The recommendation comes from the Education Policy Institute’s (EPI) latest report on disadvantage gaps in England.
Its research shows the largest increase in the GCSE attainment gap between poor children and their peers in 2021 since 2011, despite the use of teacher assessed grades during the Covid pandemic.
In October, provisional key stage 4 performance data showed the gap had since grown again. The disadvantage attainment gap now stands at 3.84, having risen from 3.79 in 2021.
Both the EPI and the Department for Education (DfE) currently define pupils as disadvantaged if they have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years.
