Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 619: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on including schools (details supplied) in County Roscommon in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that both areas are high unemployment blackspots. [46809/08]

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 620: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the criteria used in including and giving recognition to schools under the DEIS programme; if he and his Department are penalising schools (details supplied) for working harder, getting better results and ensuring better attendance by not including them in the DEIS programme even though they satisfied the qualifying criteria and were part of the disadvantaged programme and the fact that Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen Central Statistics Office figures confirm more families are unemployed in the region. [46810/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 619 and 620 together.

The schools to which the Deputy refers are among the schools that were judged by an independent identification process in 2005 not to have a sufficient level of disadvantage among their pupils to warrant their inclusion in DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunities in Schools), the Action Plan for educational inclusion. The next identification process is scheduled to be held at the end of the current DEIS programme which runs from 2005-2010. There will not be an opportunity before this to be included in the current DEIS programme of supports.

These schools were among 73 post primary schools that retained resources, both human and financial, under pre-existing schemes and programmes for addressing educational disadvantage. When DEIS was introduced, a commitment was given as a concessionary measure to these schools that they would retain a level of support for the duration of the DEIS Initiative.

While it is appreciated that the discontinuation of these resources will impact on these schools, given the current volatile and challenging economic climate, difficult decisions had to be made in order to contain public sector spending. One of these decisions was to advance the withdrawal of such supports from non DEIS schools to the beginning of the next school year.

The main focus of Social Inclusion measures will be to retain resources in DEIS schools. There is a need to focus targeted resources on the schools in most need and this approach is in line with the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General which are set out in his report on Primary Disadvantage of 2006, which recommended that my Department should focus its educational disadvantage measures on those schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

The process of identifying 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.

The ERC's overall approach was guided by the definition of educational disadvantage in the Education Act (1998), as: ". . . the impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage which prevent students from deriving appropriate benefit from education in schools".

In the primary sector, the identification process was based on a survey carried out by the ERC in May 2005, from which a response rate of more than 97% was achieved. The analysis of the survey returns from primary schools by the ERC identified the socio-economic variables that collectively best predict achievement, and these variables were then used to identify schools for participation in the School Support Programme. The variables involved were:

% unemployment

% local authority accommodation

% lone parenthood

% Travellers

% large families (5 or more children)

% pupils eligible for free books.

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) 2002, 2003, 2004

Junior Certificate retention rates by school for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 school entry cohorts 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 aggregated to school level for the 2002 and 2003 examination cohorts Leaving Certificate retention rates by school for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 school entry cohorts.

The identification process was in line with international best practice and had regard to and employed the existing 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.

Out of a total of 3,300 primary and 733 second-level schools, 876 schools have been included under the DEIS action plan. These comprise 673 primary schools and 203 second-level schools.

Targeting resources at the most disadvantaged schools that are working to counteract educational disadvantage will continue to be a priority for the Government.