School-oriented initiatives for students with poor socio-economic backgrounds

The purpose of the report is to examine school-oriented initiatives to reduce the significance of socio-economic backgrounds for academic performance. The report contains a systematic analysis of international effect studies of school-oriented initiatives for students with a poor socio-economic background as well as a quantitative synthesis. The report is based on 179 international effect studies. Most of the initiatives were in the US. The analysis shows a great variation in the effectiveness of the initiatives. In particular, initiatives such as tutoring, feedback and monitoring, cooperative learning and adaptation of the curriculum seem to be effective in terms of improving the academic performance of students with a poor socio-economic background. The report was prepared at the request of the Danish Minister for Education.