RAISE
Remit
Coordinate the monitoring and evaluation of RAISE.
RAISE Background Information
RAISE (Raising Attainment and Individual Standards in Education) is a major Welsh Assembly Government programme addressing the link between socio-economic disadvantage and pupils’ educational underachievement.
In spring 2006, the Welsh Assembly Government agreed to fund a two-year programme to support the social justice agenda in education. Schools were eligible for a RAISE grant, if they had 50 or more pupils of statutory school age, at least 20% of which were eligible for free school meals. Since then, the Assembly Government has distributed around £14.5 million each year to RAISE schools. This money was designated for tackling the link between socio-economic disadvantage and educational under-achievement. In addition, local authorities have received £1 million a year to support the education of looked-after children.
Local Authorities, via consortium working, have been active in monitoring and supporting the roll out of the programme in schools. The RAISE programme recognises the relationship between free school meal entitlement and levels of performance, in specifically targeting disadvantaged pupils in order to raise their levels of performance.
Assembly Statistical Bulletins continue to show “a strong link between achievement and the level of entitlement to free school meals: as the level of FSM entitlement increases, the level of achievement decreases.” (SB 20/2006, SB 3/2007, SB 13/2008 and SB 15/2009) Estyn and the People and Work Unit report that RAISE schools have been able to identify significant benefits for disadvantaged learners. These include:
- better provision for their needs, as the staff has gained a clearer understanding of the effects of poverty on learning;
- more individual attention to their needs, as a result of the increased staffing levels permitted by RAISE;
- improved social, personal and emotional skills, as a result of the focus on ensuring that pupils have a greater capacity to engage positively in the learning process;
- curricular improvements, as learning has become more relevant to these pupils’ needs and aspirations;
- better support for pupils, as the result of improved links with parents and the wider community.
More information is available on the Assembly’s RAISE web site at www.raise-wales.org.uk/raise.htm. The Assembly Government has commissioned rigorous external evaluation of the programme and identified key themes as areas for which will be the focus for RAISE initiatives in Year 4 (2009-2010).
Achievements
Case Studies
Key documents
RAISE4 (This information is for the RAISE 4 programme only).Group Members
| Carmarthenshire | Rosemarie Wallace RosemarieWallace@carmarthenshire.gov.uk |
| Ceredigion | Owenna Davies owennad@ceredigion.gov.uk |
| Neath Port-Talbot | John Rawlings j.rawlings@npt.gov.uk |
| Pembrokeshire | Graham Longster graham.longster@pembrokeshire.gov.uk |
| Powys | Ian Roberts ianr@powys.gov.uk |
| Swansea | Ian James ian.james@swansea.gov.uk |
| Mark Campion mark.campion@swansea.gov.uk |
|
swamwac RAISE Regional Coordinator | Lyndon Lewis lyndonlewis@swamwac.org |