Opportunity North East - Evaluation of a number of approaches to improving pupil outcomes through better transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3

The ONE programme was announced in October 2018, and aims to improve outcomes for young people in the North East. Although average outcomes at key stage 2 are strong, across a range of secondary and post 16 measures, outcomes for young people in the North East lag behind those in other regions.

Expressions of interest are sought to assess the impact of Opportunity North East (ONE) projects to improve pupil outcomes through improved transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3. This will include individual project level impact evaluations, as well as a process evaluation covering all funded projects.

The department wishes to appoint an evaluator to work with the projects to shape the programmes and data gathering to enable an impact evaluation, where possible. The department will then decide which projects are taken forward into the full evaluation.

It aims to improve outcomes for the current year 6 cohort of pupils in the North East, and in the longer term to help more schools to adopt evidence-based practice. The department is expecting to fund around 4/5 distinct school/academy trust/local authority led projects that aim (each using a different approach) to improve outcomes for young people through better transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3.

The deadline for EOI responses is 23.59 on Wednesday 13th November 2019 Additional information: Please note the inclusion of a review clause in the contract where the Department will decide whether to take the project forward. More information is provided in the EOI Advert attachment. Expressions of interests submitted must be no more than 3000 words.