Gain spotting

The final reports of the Office for Students’ learning gain pilot projects have been published.

If a government department or a quango publishes a report in mid-July, it tells you something about the priority level for that document. It usually means that they hope the topic will be buried among the suntan lotion and beach towels of the long summer months.

On Friday afternoon, the OfS released the final evaluation of a three-year pilot study of learning gain. You might think that such an important, longitudinal analysis might merit extensive commentary. But learning gain ain’t what it used to be.