Memorandum submitted by Pearson
1. SUMMARY
Pearson has found that increasing learner engagement,
improved tracking of the progress of individual learners and early
intervention is critical to tackling poor behaviour and discipline.
Technology is a powerful and often under-utilised
tool in increasing learner engagement, allowing for more personalised
and interactive approaches to learning. Technology can also be
used to spot problems early, helping teachers to identify and
support the learners that are most at need before problems become
serious. For those learners that have already been excluded from
school, alternative learning provision can help re-engage them
with learning.
Two Pearson solutions which draw on this technology,
Fronter and Prevent, have been shown to produce impressive results
when addressing behaviour and discipline issues.
2. INTRODUCTION
AND CONTEXT
Pearson UK is part of the global media and education
group Pearson. For more than a hundred years we have provided
teachers with many of the tools they need—books, learning
resources, and teacher support packages, through brands including
Edexcel, Longman and Heinemann. Working in over 60 countries,
Pearson has built an international reach that enables us to support
teachers and learners to reach their potential and progress in
their lives. The scale and range which come from operating both
a publishing/technology business and an assessment business mean
that Pearson is uniquely placed to provide joined-up support to
improve outcomes and learning.
3. Pearson believe that challenging behaviour
and problems with discipline are often caused by pupils becoming
disinterested in and then disengaged from their learning experience.
Consequently, one of the ways to manage this is to support teachers
in ensuring that the learning experience is personalised and as
fit-for-purpose as possible. Over time, Pearson are aiming to
separate the content of our resources from assessments, enabling
all of our products and resources to become truly personalised,
therefore cutting the risks of disengagement. This personalised
approach has been used successfully in our sponsored academies
although it is still too early for the evidence to be definitive
as students have only been in the academies for a single year.
4. Pearson offer two behaviour and discipline
solutions that are used internationally to address those students
who are at risk of dropping out of school; Fronter (http://uk.fronter.info/)
and Prevent (http://www.preventdropout.com/).
5. PEARSON SOLUTION
ONE: FRONTER
Fronter is a learning platform used by millions
of teachers and learners around the world. The platform is made
up of almost 100 easy to use web-based tools which can be customised
according to the needs and vision of each school. For example
adjustments can be made to suit the school's pedagogical methods,
learner age group and subject areas. The following case study
shows how Fronter is used to help teachers manage behaviour at
Hallingby Skole, in Norway. Frode Sømme, the Head Master
says:
6. We use Fronter every day to document
behaviour among our pupils. We are using the Absence tool in Fronter.
We have at our school what we call "prosperity rules"(well
being). We have five of these rules, which are:
— We expect all pupils to respect one another
and speak with politeness, without using bad language or improper
behaviour like violence or bullying.
— Pupils and teachers shall be in the classroom
when the teaching session begins.
— We expect an atmosphere of law and order.
We do not accept disturbances from pupils.
— No drugs, alcohol or smoking is allowed
at school.
— Mobile phones are not allowed inside
the classroom.
If pupils break these rules, they get a mark
in Fronter where is recorded what happened. Every month a report
is sent to the parents who sign these papers. If pupils have ten
marks in half a year, they will drop a grade in behaviour. Another
ten, and they drop to the lowest grade. Each pupil starts with
zero marks at the beginning of each semester (two in a year).
Fronter makes teacher's lives easier because it is so simple to
use and is a great tool for documentation.
7. For those students who have been excluded
and are studying at Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), becoming re-motivated
and re-engaged with learning can be a major challenge. Fronter
is already being used successfully by teachers in UK PRUs, for
example in Newhaven.
8. Teachers working with challenging pupils
at Newhaven PRU are benefiting in a number of ways from Fronter:
— Class Templates: Lessons are being
designed with a standard format across subjects, using templates.
This makes lesson content easier to access, especially for pupils
who do not attend regularly.
— New resources: New resources have
been researched and developed, including weblinks, for each subject
that are regularly updated and loaded into Fronter. This enables
teachers to offer more variety in their lessons, and pupils to
be more engaged in their learning.
— Improved learning continuity during
absence: Pupils who are absent for whatever reason are able
to access lessons online from home.
— Reinforcement of learning objectives:
Pupils can repeat any lesson they wish to at any point, if they
need to remind themselves of the content.
— Flexible learning: Virtual pupils,
who are not able to attend the PRU in person for any reason, can
take part in lessons remotely at their convenience.
— Resource variety: Mixed lesson
resources are held in a single place, so that they can be accessed
together on demand.
Further details at: http://fronter.info/downloads/uk/Fronter_Case_study_Newhaven_PRU.pdf
9. PEARSON SOLUTION
TWO: PREVENT
Pearson also offers Prevent, a product used
mainly in the US where it is estimated that 1.2 million students
drop out every year, that's 7,200 a day or one every 26 seconds.
Prevent was founded by Gary Hensley, a former school Assistant
Principal who developed the system with Dr Trish Hatch, a Professor
at San Diego State University. The system is designed to identify
as early as possible those students most at risk of dropping out
of school, allowing limited resources to be efficiently targeted
at those with the greatest need.
10. By using existing student information,
Prevent enables school teachers to quickly assess and compare
the performance of individual learners and to pro-actively use
a dropout prevention program where necessary. Prevent collects
student attendance data, course failure rate, grade point average,
behaviour and disciplinary data, tests scores, and demographic
data that includes gender, ethnicity, race, grade level, and poverty
level. All this information is securely imported to Prevent then
analysed against proven algorithms. The resulting benchmarked
information allows Prevent to generate something called the Pearson
Index, which is based on and validated by the work of our industry-leading
psychometric team. Proven to be effective, this index compares
the elements that research has shown to be the most likely indicators
of students dropping out, weighted according to the most predictive
values for each of the factors.
11. Prevent features an easy to use internet
browser-based dashboard with simple, "at-a-glance" reporting
so that school teachers and other staff can quickly spot at-risk
students and take action to help.
12. Using Prevent allows school staff to
direct their limited time and resources most effectively—one
of the issues facing schools in the US is that staff responsible
for the pastoral care of students can have up to 500 students
to monitor. Its success demonstrates that behaviour and discipline
problems can be avoided before they begin when systems are put
in place to identify those at risk earlier with staff resources
focused on putting interventions and support into place.
September 2010
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