examine and identify any trends in attainment levels in regional and remote schools; Statistical modelling found attainment levels to be static in rural NSW government secondary and central schools between 2010 and 2016. Static attainment levels were corroborated by teachers during interviewing. Modelling did identify factors capable of impact attainment, these included: rurality (school location), distance to nearest university campus, school type (secondary or central), school population, year 12 cohort size, school ICSEA score and school EAS status. examine any differences between schools known to have had sustained engagement with widening participation activities and others. Interviews with teachers revealed a fondness for WP initiatives accompanied by a belief that their school would be worse off without a university WP presence. Most teachers spoke of a desire to maintain and expand WP presence in their schools and most suggested that their students enjoyed their interactions with WP programs. Statistical modelling showed no statistically significant difference in attainment levels between schools based on amount of contact with WP initiatives. Project Activities, Milestones and Key Performance Indicators Table 2: Project activities, milestones and KPIs TIME FRAME PLANNED ACTIVITIES & MILESTONES PROJECT ACTIVITIES & MILESTONES COMPLETED IDENTIFIED KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OUTCOME Nov 2016 – Dec 2016 1.1 Project Officer recruitment. Project Officer with PhD and research skills in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies recruited 1.1 Appointment of a Project Officer with the knowledge, skills and experience to successfully deliver the project. Completed Project officer recruited and commenced initial work in late November 2016. 1.2 Submission of application for ethics approval to the University of New South Wales. Ethics approval sought from both UNSW and subsequently the appropriate area of NSW Department of Education 1.2 Application for ethics approval submitted in sufficient time for approval to be granted by 2017. Completed UNSW ethics approved (HC16975) and NSW Department of Education SERAP approved (2017070) Nov 2016 – Dec 2016 2.1 Review of international literature on the successes of widening participation programs and how they have been A comprehensive international literature review conducted. 2.1 Completion of literature review informs project processes and identifies any potential new data sources: Completed Literature review undertaken and completed. Literature review was constantly updated through the project life and then
evaluated in terms of educational outcomes. any identified and new data sources will form part of the ongoing discussions with the NSW Department of Education (DET). used to write an article for journal publication. 2.2 Data identification. Completed Conversations were held with DET re data sources. Subsequently data was gained from ACARA as they were holders of the data required 2.2 Identification of available data relevant to the Project. Completed Data sources identified within UAC, UNSW student information system and ACARA. Jan 2017 – Feb 2017 3.1 Investigation of new potential data sources. Several meetings with the NSW DET were undertaken to source data. Other external sources such as ACARA were also identified 3.1 Consultations on potential new data sources conducted with: NSW DET to identify aggregate schools data they are willing to share. up to 10 schools in regional and remote NSW that are part of the ASPIRE program. These schools are designated low SES and have traditionally had both low progression rates to university and low High School Median ATAR. Completed NSW DET provided some data to project researchers. In addition, as a result of discussions researchers and DET decided to include interview aspect into research methods. Feb 2017 – May 2017 4.1 Data collation, including: all NSW regional and remote state schools that using FOEI fall within the bottom two quartiles; 5 years of available data for students (defined as current Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Quantitative data included academic attainment indicators of ATAR eligibility count, application, offer and enrolment counts for all rural NSW government secondary and central schools. Qualitative 4.1 Completion of data collation. Completed Quantitative data collated from data sources and organised for later analyses. Academic attainment indicators of ATAR eligibility count, application, offer and enrolment counts for all rural NSW government secondary and central