Includes bibliographical references and index.

Global interest in narrowing the attainment gap -- Why do we care about educational gaps? -- Review of evidence on targeted funding to improve attendance and participation -- Improving school attendance in other ways -- The importance of attendance at school in India and Pakistan -- Using targeted funding to improve attainment -- Studies of improving attainment in other ways -- The Pupil Premium funding policy in England -- Problems in assessing the impact of Pupil Premium policy -- Evaluating Pupil Premium Policy through consideration of long-term disadvantage -- Changes in socio-economic segregation between schools -- Changes in the attainment gap -- The character and geography of long-term disadvantage -- Combining the results on Pupil Premium funding -- What have we learnt and what are the next tasks?

"Around the world, governments, charities and other bodies are concerned with improving education, especially for the lowest attaining and most disadvantaged students. Making Schools Better for Disadvantaged Students: The International Implications of Evidence on Effective School Funding presents detailed research into how poverty affects student segregation and underachievement in schools. It contains the first ever large-scale evaluation of how funding can best be used to lower the poverty attainment gap for disadvantaged students. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research from England, India and Pakistan as well as worldwide reviews of relevant studies, the book presents high quality evidence on the impact of funding policy initiatives, such as the Pupil Premium funding in England, and the many variations of similar schemes worldwide. It analyses education measures which have been put in place and discusses ways in which these can be used efficiently and fairly to allocate funding to students who are persistently at risk of underachievement. The book is unique in synthesising many forms of evidence from around the world, and finding a definition of educational disadvantage that can be used fairly across different contexts. Offering significant implications for ways to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students, the book will be essential reading for students of education policy, sociology of education and educational practices, and all researchers, school leaders and policy-makers working in this area"--