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Improving educational attainment, while reducing social inequality, is one of the fundamental pillars of education policy across the world (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009; Voogt, Knezek, Cox, Knezek, & ten Brummelhuis, 2013). Information and communications technology (ICT) is often provided by schools or national education departments with the intention of improving attainment and addressing this inequality (SQW Ipsos Mori & London Knowledge Lab, 2011) and yet -- despite the need to justify and prioritize sparse educational resources -- this spending is often not based upon evidence of effectiveness. This review will focus on the different forms of ICT in education with the aim to identify which forms yield the most educational benefits for students. Policymakers and schools both require evidence to guide them on which ICT to invest in. It is imperative for teachers, education policy makers, and local planners to know whether and how money spent will impact on the learning of pupils who receive it. This is particularly important in the face of multiple marketing efforts from competing manufacturers and developers and increased demand for ICT in schools from parents and students.

Rapid reviews using abbreviated systematic review methods are of increasing importance for evidence-informed decision-making in education, although there is little guidance about the most suitable approach. Three recently completed rapid review reports are compared to inform discussions on the utility of this type of review in education and to highlight appropriate methods for producing evidence syntheses in a limited time frame. Rapid review methods need to be chosen to fit the needs of the review, which involves: thinking broadly about different kinds of team experience and expertise; estimating the size and nature of the literature to be reviewed; considering the review purpose and nature of the topic; choosing an appropriate synthesis method for the review purpose, evidence base and reviewers’ expertise; fully describing the review approach, and discussing the potential limitations of chosen methods; and understanding the anticipated audiences and tailoring outputs accordingly. Rapid reviews to address urgent and high-priority questions provide the benefits of timeliness and reduced resource requirements. However, it is crucial to understand caveats and limitations to the rapid conduct of evidence syntheses for decision-making purposes. This article offers guidance to support researchers, postgraduate students and commissioners who wish to conduct rapid reviews in a transparent and systematic way, addressing complex questions of relevance to evidence-informed decision-making in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of young people's participation in organised sport on their educational outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Systematic review of the literature. A comprehensive search was used to identify all research evidence about engagement, impact and value in culture and sport. A combination of manual and automated screening was used to select studies for inclusion in this review based on pre-specified criteria. Included studies had to use a "high"-quality experimental research design, focus on children and young people and have quantitative educational outcome measures. Results from the individual studies were transformed into a standardised effect size and meta-analysis was used to combine the results from individual studies where appropriate. Findings – Young people's participation in sport may lead to improved educational outcomes. Young people's participation in organised sports activities, when compared to non-participation, improves their numeracy skills. Young people's participation in organised sport linked with extra-curricular activities, when compared to non-participation, improves a range of learning outcomes for underachieving pupils. These findings are based on six "high"-quality studies conducted in the UK and North America. Study populations included young people within the range of four to 16 years old. Originality/value – This paper builds on the existing evidence base in two main ways. First, it focuses specifically on the impacts associated with organised sport whereas previous reviews have had a broader focus. Second, it uses meta-analytic methods to synthesise study findings. This paper provides pooled effect sizes for overall educational impacts and translates these into potential changes in test/grade scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]