Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 216: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason retention rates are included under the DEIS criteria for post-primary schools; her views on removing this disincentive to making progress at retaining young people in school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34112/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Support Programme will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage.

The process of identifying primary and second-level schools for participation in the SSP was managed by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) on behalf of my Department and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's regional offices and the Inspectorate

The ERC's overall approach was guided by the definition of educational disadvantage in the Education Act (1998), section 32(9), as: ". . . the impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage which prevent students from deriving appropriate benefit from education in schools". In the case of second-level schools, the Department supplied the ERC with centrally-held data from the Post-Primary Pupils and State Examinations Commission databases and from data holdings for the Free Books Scheme.

Based on an analysis of these data, the variables used to determine eligibility for inclusion in the School Support Programme were as follows:

Medical card data for Junior Certificate candidates (including Junior Certificate School Programme candidates)

Junior Certificate retention rates by school

Junior Certificate exam results aggregated to school level (expressed as an OPS — "Overall Performance Scale" — score). This was based on each student's performance in the seven subjects in which s/he performed best

Leaving Certificate retention rates by school.

For a school to be eligible for extra resources under DEIS, it was considered that there ought to be evidence that a school was experiencing educational problems (e.g., it was below average on the retention variables and/or Junior Certificate performance) and had above average percentage enrolment of students from poor backgrounds.