Closing the Pupil Premium attainment gap

As educators are well aware, interventions that make a real difference specifically for their most disadvantaged students are hard to come by. That’s why Tassomai is particularly excited to reveal the findings of its ‘Pupil Premium Boost’ trial…

Sign up for a webinar for teachers about Pupil Premium Boost on Thursday 11th July at 5pm.

Earlier this year 20 schools that use Tassomai partnered with us to trial a differentiated intervention for their Pupil Premium students. 

The results so far show a profound impact on progress, with Pupil Premium students on the trial making around:

• 35% more progress than their non-PP peers

• 45% more progress than their PP counterparts at schools who were not participating in the trial

This emerging trend appears consistent across cohorts, subjects and schools.

Commenting on the findings of the trial, Tassomai’s founder Murray Morrison said:

“We observed that across the board, PP students were behind their peers, and this additional Boost intervention was closing that gap. The effect appears greater in KS3 than KS4, but this is largely down to the relative size and scope of the courses; in reality the effect appears quite consistent.”

What does Tassomai’s trial involve?

Students in the "Pupil Premium Boost" trial all have a weekly personalised catch-up in the form of a Tassomai Leapfrog Session, along with enhanced access to Mai, Tassomai’s AI-powered tutor.

This doesn’t present as ‘special treatment’ or ‘extra work’, but works as a weekly targeted deep-dive in a problem area for each student, across each of their subjects, as part of their regular homework on Tassomai.

The study is being conducted across 20 schools, with 12,385 student users of Tassomai, of whom 3,832 are identified as Pupil Premium. A further comparable sample of schools was used as a control group.

What’s next for Pupil Premium Boost?

Our intention is to roll out this program to all schools in 24/25, though this will be subject to a waiting list while we manage demand and evaluate our own costs.

Early adopters who sign up to Tassomai for the new school year before the end of the summer term will avoid the waiting list and get Pupil Premium Boost for free from the start of September as part of their school’s package!

Already using Tassomai at your school? Contact our admin team to express your interest.

If you’re from a new, or returning school, learn more about Tassomai and book a demo here.

Tassomai hopes that in the future, using Pupil Premium Boost, schools will:

• Accelerate the academic progress of disadvantaged students, effectively closing the attainment gap between Pupil Premium and non-Pupil Premium learners.

• Provide personalised, data-driven interventions tailored to the specific needs of each Pupil Premium student, ensuring no one falls behind or gets left behind.

• Leverage the power of AI and adaptive learning technologies to deliver targeted support and individualised learning experiences, maximising the potential of every student, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

FAQs

• How is 'progress' defined and measured in the trial?

  Tassomai measures students’ level of course completion (where 100% means they have demonstrated mastery of all the content required in their specification). This has been shown in a number of studies to be an accurate predictor of outcomes and of academic progress.

  For the study, we looked at how much course progress was gained for each completed homework and/or for every 100 questions answered in the app.

• Is it not the case that Pupil Premium students often have less engagement with homework?

  Yes, we generally observe lower engagement with this group (on average) and we suspect that this is the primary reason that over time they fall behind their peers in terms of Tassomai course completion.

  While we aren't easily able to change that issue directly, we are very excited to see that this intervention to some extent mitigates the disadvantage of lower engagement by increasing the learning impact of the time spent on the app by these students.

• Can non Pupil Premium students also benefit from this intervention?

  Yes, all families who get Tassomai through schools have the option of adding weekly Leapfrog Sessions and unlimited access to Mai, our AI-tutor for a low-price monthly subscription.

  There’s a cost to Tassomai to develop and deliver these upgrade options which hasn’t been passed on to schools, but is partially supported by these parental contributions.

  Educational equality is important to us and Pupil Premium Boost is our way of ensuring that those families who are least likely to be able to afford to upgrade are not disadvantaged.

• How much will Pupil Premium Boost cost schools in 24/25?

  Schools that renew / sign up to Tassomai for the 24/25 academic year before the end of July 2024 will get Pupil Premium Boost for free.

  The price of Pupil Premium Boost for schools that sign up after this date hasn’t been finalised. We would prefer not to charge for Pupil Premium Boost, but there are additional costs incurred by us in offering this feature and we need to monitor costs carefully. Therefore we are considering charging schools for the feature and / or creating a waiting list system where the most engaged schools each month can switch on the feature.

If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.