ASH GROVE ACADEMY,a state primary which sits in Moss Roe, a destitute suburb on the outskirts of Macclesfield, and is an excellent school. Recently,its team won a local debating tournament, besting fancier rivals; its pupils are exposed to William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde; lessons are demanding and there are catch-up sessions for those who fall behind. Most distinguished, or teaching is based on up-to-date research into what works in the classroom. It is the sort of school that ministers dream of replicating across the country.
But how to do so? When the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition came to power in 2010,it set about freeing schools from local-authority control. International studies have suggested that such freedom improves results. But giving teachers autonomy doesn’t automatically mean that all will gain fine decisions. So in 2011 the government if a grant of £135m ($218m) to establish the Education Endowment Fund (EEF), a laboratory for education research which would provide teachers...
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Source: economist.com