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Publications & reports

Dataset-specific publications, such as Data Explained documents and user guides, can be found on the ADR UK Data Catalogue or on Flagship datasets.

28 March 2025

Data Insight: Investigating the relationship between higher education participation, personal characteristics and area of residence among school or college leavers

This Data Insight investigates the extent to which the personal characteristics and area of residence of school or college leavers in England have a bearing on the likelihood of participation in higher education.

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21 March 2025

Data Insight: Understanding the impact of time in care on educational attainment in England

This Data Insight by Xiaohui Zhang examines the impact of time spent in care on educational attainment, measured by the number of GCSE and advanced level qualifications achieved by children aged 15 and 17 in England. The findings are based on analyses of the Growing Up in England (GUiE) dataset.

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18 February 2025

Data Insight: Gender gaps in teacher grades for university admissions

This Data Insight discusses the differences between A-level teacher-predicted grades for university admissions, and exam results, by student gender.

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15 January 2025

Community Catalyst: Children at Risk of Poor Outcomes scoping review - Use of administrative data to understand children’s involvement with children’s statutory social care services

This comprehensive scoping review has been produced to inform and encourage greater use of administrative data for children’s social care research. It aims to identify strengths and gaps in the published literature to provide the research community with a clearer understanding of research priorities.

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17 December 2024

Changes over time to Pupil Matching Reference Numbers in the National Pupil Database

This report summarises findings from an analysis examining the extent to which the Pupil Matching Reference numbers (PMRs) within the National Pupil Database (NPD) change over time. The project also investigated which demographic groups of individuals were more or less likely to be affected by these changes. This work was carried out as part of the ECHILD (Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data) project.

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11 December 2024

Community Catalyst: Youth Transitions research report - From gaps to priorities: Examining the evidence landscape

This research report provides an overview of this community catalyst’s aims and summarises the research approach used to address these objectives.

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6 December 2024

Data Insight: Children involved with child welfare services and the likelihood of a custodial sentence

This Data Insight by Dr Anna Leyland summarises findings from working with the Ministry of Justice & Department for Education linked dataset - England. Using data from the National Pupil Database and the Police National Computer, the research analyses the likelihood of receiving a custodial sentence by 2020 for children who were referred to or received an intervention from child welfare services from ages 5-18.

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3 December 2024

Data Insight: What came first: Is there a causal role of child welfare service interventions on likelihood of having criminal cautions or convictions?

This Data Insight summarises findings from working with the Ministry of Justice & Department for Education linked dataset - England. Using de-identified data from the National Pupil Database and the Police National Computer, the research looks at the order in which children were in contact with the child welfare service and criminal justice system. This report then estimates the likelihood of having any criminal caution or conviction, including only those cases where children were involved with the child welfare service one year or more before they had any criminal caution or conviction and up until 2020.

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23 August 2024

Gestational age at birth, chronic conditions, and school outcomes: Young person's version of a research paper

This study was summarised by Sara Duru during her eight-week internship at ADR UK, with input and feedback from the Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) team who produced the original research​​​​​​​. It looks at academic outcomes and special education needs across gestational age, for children born with and without chronic health conditions (e.g. long-term conditions affecting the brain, lungs, or heart). 

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16 August 2024

Data Insight: Childhood educational predictors of re-offending trajectories

This Data Insight examines the feasibility of using childhood educational information to develop predictive models of re-offending trajectories. A re-offending trajectory is the pattern by which a person commits crimes throughout their lifetime. This research aimed to explore whether we could use de-identified administrative educational and social care data to potentially identify the characteristics of individuals who may go on to become persistent offenders. The research used the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education linked dataset – England.

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