National Evaluation of Every Child Counts

The national evaluation of Every Child Counts was led by the IEE until March 2010, with Carole Torgerson as the Principal Investigator and Hannah Ainsworth as the Trial Co-ordinator. From April 2010 it is being led by the York Trials Unit, with Professor David Torgerson as the Principal Investigator.

The evaluation has been conducted by the University of York (Institute for Effective Education, York Trials Unit and Department of Psychology) and Durham University Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, in association with Kings College London, the University of Warwick, and the Institute of Education, London. The study was commissioned, and was funded by, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

Background 

The Every Child Counts (ECC) initiative has been developed by a partnership consisting of a coalition of business partners and charitable trusts (the Every Child a Chance charity) and the Government (DCSF and the National Strategies).

The main aim of Every Child Counts is to develop and support the bottom 5% of KS1 children. For more information visit www.everychildachancetrust.org.

Numbers Count has been developed by Edge Hill University and the Every Child a Chance Trust, in partnership with Lancashire Local Authority, and provides intensive one-to-one support for children identified as the lowest achievers. Numbers Count is a 12-week programme, consisting of daily 30-minute sessions for the target children and delivered by the trained Numbers Count teachers. The core elements are a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of the child’s strengths and weaknesses, core learning objectives for the lessons and guidance for teachers on lesson structure and key teaching approaches.

The Williams Independent Review of Mathematics Teaching in Early Years Settings and Primary Schools recommended that research should be conducted to establish whether individual or small group delivery of an intensive numeracy intervention is most effective and offers best value for money.

Evaluation

There were four main strands to the evaluation of Every Child Counts:

  • Process Evaluation (lead from Durham University by Andy Wiggins with assistance from Patrick Barmby)
  • Secondary Data Analysis
  • Impact Evaluation: Trial 1
  • Impact Evaluation: Trial 2: Pairs and Trial 2: Triplets

Further details are provided here about Trial 1 and Trial 2. Hannah Ainsworth (IEE) was the Trial Co-ordinator for both trials.

Trial 1

The primary aim of Trial 1 is to obtain robust evidence of the effectiveness of the Numbers Count intervention (Numbers Count Handbook 2008-2009, Edge Hill University, 2008) on children's immediate attainment in mathematics following the intervention. We plan to undertake a pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT) of one-to-one delivery of the Numbers Count intervention versus normal practice for attainment in mathematics. This will be an individually randomised trial using a wait list design. Attainment in mathematics will be independently tested.

Trial 2: Pairs and Trial 2: Triplets

The primary aim of Trial 2: Pairs and Trial 2: Triplets is to obtain robust evidence of the relative effectiveness of the Numbers Count intervention (Numbers Count Handbook 2008-2009, Edge Hill University, 2008) when it is delivered individually to one child and when an adapted intervention is delivered to groups of pairs or triplets of children on children’s immediate attainment in mathematics following the intervention. Attainment in mathematics will be independently tested.

For more information about the evaluation please contact one of the Principal Investigators, David Torgerson (djt6@york.ac.uk), Andy Wiggins (andy.wiggins@durham.ac.uk)

Last Updated: October 20, 2010 | Webmaster, iee

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