John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 311: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the directive she has issued in relation to the sanctioning of the DEIS for a school (details supplied) in County Sligo as all the relevant information on the educational attainment and socioeconomic of the student cohort has been furnished; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that it is challenging to operate as a socially mixed school and inclusion in DEIS would provide some extra support, and as one third of the students live in a designated RAPID region; if her further attention has been drawn to the fact that their main feeder schools and partner school completion has been recognised as disadvantaged for some years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18011/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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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. DEIS 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 DEIS 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.

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. 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.

The identification process was in line with international best practice and had regard to and employed the exiting and most appropriate data sources available.

A review mechanism was put in place to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in DEIS but regarded themselves as having a level of disadvantage which was of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the programme. The review process operated under the direction of an independent person, charged with ensuring that all relevant identification processes and procedures were properly followed in the case of schools applying for a review.

An application for review was received from the school referred to by the Deputy, but it was not among those schools recommended for inclusion in the programme. As a result of the identification and review process, 873 schools have been included under the DEIS action plan. These comprise 670 primary schools and 203 second-level schools.

Schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the DEIS programme will continue to be supported in their efforts to deal with educational disadvantage among their students.