Spatial variations in school performance: A local analysis using geographically weighted regression

In Britain, the performance of all state primary schools is assessed by students' attainment levels in a set of standardized tests administered to pupils at the ages of 7 and 11 (the so-called Key Stages 1 and 2, respectively). These data are analysed for 3687 schools in northern England. In particular, school performance is linked to the number of students taking the test at each school and to various socioeconomic indicators of the estimated school catchment areas. The latter are based on a geographical weighting function that links census data, an areal coverage, to school locations, a point coverage. Following a traditional global regression analysis, spatial variations in the relationships are examined with geographically weighted regression (GWR) to reveal some interesting geographical variations in the results.