Pam Sammons was appointed a Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham in September 2004. Previously she was a Professor at the Institute of Education University of London and Co-coordinating Director of its International School Effectiveness & Improvement Centre (1999-2004).

Pam has been involved in educational research for the last 25 years with a special focus on school effectiveness and improvement, leadership and equity in education. She has conducted many studies of primary and secondary schools. She directed the evaluation of the Making Belfast Work Raising School Standards Project (1996-1998) and was part of the SOEID funded Improving School Effectiveness study (1994-1998). She directed a major study of secondary schools and departmental effectiveness (Forging Links Effective Schools & Effective Departments, Paul Chapman 1997) funded by the ESRC. Recent research projects include the national evaluation of New Community Schools funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department (2000-2003). She led the value added component of the DfES evaluation of the Key Stage 3 pilot in England (2002). She is currently engaged in a major longitudinal study of effective pre-school and primary provision tracking children from age 3 to 11 years (EPPE3-11, 1997-2008) which has informed the development of pre-school education policy in England. She is co- director of the three year VITAE DfES funded research on variations in teachers’ lives and work and their effects on pupils.

She has acted as a consultant on school effectiveness and improvement to the Department for Education Northern Ireland, the SOEID and Skolverket, the national education agency in Sweden. She was a consultant to a comparative research study on PISA 2000 Results commissioned by the German Institute of International Educational Research (DIPF) for the project Comparison of Educational Systems in Selected Countries and lead author of the England Country Report (2003). Most recently she was a cconsultant to the Office for Standards in Education’s evaluation of the impact of inspection (2004).

Selected publications

Educational Effectiveness, Sammons, P, Khamis, A & Coleman M , Chapter 8 in Leadership and Management in Education', Peter Earley and Marianne Coleman (Eds), Oxford University Press, (2004).

Improvement through inspection An evaluation of the impact of Ofsted’s work, Matthews, P. & Sammons, P. (2004) London:Ofsted/Institute of Education.
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=pubs.summary&id=3696

Exploring the use of effect sizes to evaluate the impact of different influences on child outcomes: possibilities and limitations, Elliot, K & Sammons, P Chapter 3 in What Does it Mean? The Use f Effect Sizes in Educational Research, K Elliot & I Schagen (Eds) (2004) Slough: NFER .

England: A country report (2004), Sammons, P &, Elliot, K with Welcome, W, Taggart B, & Levacic, R chapter in Hans Do?bert, Eckhard Klieme, Wendelin Sroka (eds.): Conditions of school performance in seven countries - a quest for understanding the international lvariation of PISA results. Münster, New York, Munich, Berlin: Waxmann Publishing Co ISBN 3-8309-1373-7, pp 65-149.

The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) Project: Findings from the pre-school period, Sylva, K, Melhuish, E, Sammons, P, Siraj-Blatchford, I, Taggart, B & Elliot, K (2003)
DfES Research Brief RBX15-03, October 2003.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RBX15-03.pdf

Key Findings from the National Evaluation of the New Community Pilot Programme in Scotland (2003) Sammons, P, Power, S, Elliot, K, Campbell, C, Robertson, P & Whitty, G, Insight 7, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Education Department.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/ins7-00.asp

The Early Years Transition and Special Needs (EYTSEN) Project Sammons, P, Taggart, B, Smees, R, Sylva, K, Melhuish, E, Siraj-Blatchford, I & Elliot, K (2003) DfES Research Brief No 431 June 2003 London: Department for Education & Skills ISBN 1 84478 021 X http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB431.pdf

The Underpinnings and Contribution of School Effectiveness Research, Sammons, P & Elliot, K (2003) Chapter 48 in B Davies & John West-Burnham (Eds) Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Section IX – School Improvement and Effectiveness, Pearson: London.

Effective Schools, improving schools and inclusive schools, (2003) Sammons, P chapter 7 in C Campbell (Ed) Developing Inclusive Schooling: Perspectives, policies and practices (2003) London Institute of Education: Bedford Way Papers. ISBN 0 85473 648 4, pp120-149.

Preparing for Change: Evaluation of the Key Stage 3 Strategy Pilot Executive Summary (2003), Stoll, L, Stobart, G, Martinn, S, Freeman, S, Freedman. E, Sammons, P & Smees, R London: Department foe Education & Skills ISBN 1 84185 8714. http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/midbins/keystage3/Teach&Learn_Sum.PDF

School Effectiveness: Coming of Age in the 21st Century, Sammons, P, Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, (1999), pp 1-387, ISBN 9026515499 (hbk) / 9026515502 (pbk).