Compensatory Education Policies and Closing the Achievement Gap

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• identifies a first example, e.g. the Pupil Premium.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. extra government funding paid to schools for pupils eligible for free school meals, to fund additional support.1 mark
• identifies a second example, e.g. Sure Start.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. early years support, such as childcare and family services, provided in disadvantaged areas to give children a stronger start before school.1 mark

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• identifies a strength, e.g. targeting resources.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. directing extra funding, such as the Pupil Premium, specifically at disadvantaged pupils can fund support that a family or under-resourced school could not otherwise afford.1 mark
• identifies a weakness, e.g. it locates the problem in the pupil or family.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. critics argue this echoes cultural deprivation theory in treating disadvantaged pupils or families as the source of the problem rather than examining structural inequality or school processes such as labelling.1 mark
• adds a further weakness, e.g. limited scope.1 mark
• develops it, e.g. extra funding for schools cannot directly fix causes that lie outside the school, such as housing or wider income inequality.1 mark

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• makes one or two undeveloped points, with little or no named policy and no real evaluation.2 marks
• gives a clear, accurate account of one side with at least one named policy, and begins to consider the other side, but development or balance is limited.2 marks
• gives a developed, accurate account of both sides with named policies, weighs them against each other, and reaches a clear, supported conclusion.2 marks
• Educational Priority Areas, from the Plowden Report of 1967, and Head Start show a long tradition of directing extra resources at disadvantaged pupils; Sure Start and the Pupil Premium target support at pupils identified as disadvantaged, which can fund resources a family or school could not otherwise afford.2 marks
• compensatory education can be accused of locating the problem in disadvantaged pupils and families, similar to the criticism made of cultural deprivation theory, rather than addressing wider structural causes such as income inequality or housing; extra school funding alone cannot fix causes that lie outside the school gates, and school-based processes such as labelling and streaming may need to be tackled directly rather than compensated for.2 marks
• a supported judgement on whether targeted extra resources meaningfully close the achievement gap, or whether compensatory policy has a limited ceiling of impact unless combined with wider social and economic policy.2 marks

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