Education Endowment Foundation:Catch Up Numeracy (re-grant)

Catch Up Numeracy (re-grant)

Catch Up
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
0
months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

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University of Nottingham
One-to-one tailored support delivered by teaching assistants for Key Stage 2 pupils struggling with numeracy
Pupils: 1811 Schools: 142 Grant: £560,000
Key Stage: 2 Duration: 1 year(s) 8 month(s) Type of Trial: Effectiveness Trial
Completed July 2017

This page covers the second (effectiveness) trial of Catch Up® Numeracy, testing a scalable model under everyday conditions in a large number of schools. To read about the first (efficacy) trial – testing whether it could work in schools under best possible conditions – click here.

Catch Up® Numeracy is a one to one intervention for learners who are struggling with numeracy. It is delivered by Teaching Assistants and consists of two 15-minute sessions per week

There is evidence that Teaching Assistants are more likely to have a positive impact when delivering structured interventions than as general classroom support. The EEF funded Catch Up® Numeracy because it is a structured intervention that has some evidence of promise from previous evaluations.

The first trial was designed to find out if the programme worked in developer led conditions and found that pupils receiving the intervention made additional progress in comparison to pupils receiving standard provision. The study also found a positive impact for providing pupils with the same amount of structured one to one support without using the specific Catch Up® Numeracy materials. This suggested that it was the additional one to one support, rather than Catch Up® Numeracy itself, which led to improved outcomes

The EEF funded a second evaluation which compared two ways of supporting large numbers of schools to deliver structured one-to-one TA support. It compared pupils receiving Catch Up® Numeracy with pupils receiving equivalent TA support based on best practice guidance in the EEF’s guidance report on TA deployment. The study provides no evidence that Catch Up® Numeracy had an impact on pupils’ maths outcomes compared to the alternative. Catch Up® Numeracy pupils ever eligible for free school meals made 2 months’ less progress than similar pupils receiving other TA provision.

Schools may choose to implement their own structured TA intervention, which is likely to have a similar impact for all pupils, and might be more suitable for those eligible for free school meals. The EEF has no plans for another trial of Catch Up® Numeracy and the programme will be removed from our Promising Project list

  1. There is no evidence that Catch Up® Numeracy had an impact on pupils’ maths outcomes, on average, compared to a control group which received a similar amount of TA-led support. This result has a low to moderate security rating.
  2. Among pupils eligible for Free School Meals, those who received Catch Up® Numeracy made two months less progress in maths compared to those who did not. This result may have lower security than the overall finding because of the smaller number of pupils.
  3. There was some weak evidence to indicate that children who received Catch Up® Numeracy developed a more positive attitude towards maths compared to those in the active control group.
  4. Schools implemented the intervention with a high level of fidelity. However, there was some mis-selection of pupils, which suggests that intervention programmes for low attaining pupils may not reach all pupils for whom they are intended.
  5. Teaching assistants reported that they valued the Catch Up® Numeracy training. However, there was no evidence that Catch Up® Numeracy changed the attitudes of teaching assistants to maths and maths teaching.
Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Maths
0
Months' progress
Maths (FSM)
-2
Months' progress
N/A