Chronic absenteeism is the visible tip of a deeper crisis. England’s schools do not only have an attendance problem; we also face an engagement problem.

Too many young people are voting with their feet because school does not feel designed for them. As the curriculum and assessment review reaches its final stages, this truth must be at its core: curriculum and assessment shape motivation as well as attainment.

I have just returned from Chicago, the biggest city in the US state of Illinois. Chicago’s school district (which runs 630 schools) has spent more than three decades learning how to improve.

During that time the Chicago public schools system has gone from being one of the worst-performing to one of the most improved in the US.

The 5Essentials impact survey has been a big part of that process. This survey measures students’ lived experiences of school against five “essential” characteristics: supportive environment, ambitious instruction, involved families, effective leaders and collaborative teachers.

It treats climate, trust and the instructional core as central levers for progress, not peripheral concerns. Lift Schools has adapted the Chicago survey for an English context and added a sixth “essential”: school organisation. The survey provides some of the richest actionable insights into the health of our schools and how pupils experience school and learning.

Chicago’s approach to school improvement

But this isn’t our only takeaway from the success of Chicago’s transformation. In his book How a City Learned to Improve Its Schools, Tony Bryk charts how networked improvement, patient leadership and attention to culture helped to gradually lift outcomes.

I first encountered Bryk’s work in 2008, as a new principal in Bristol, and it has influenced my leadership ever since. Seeing Chicago in 2025 was a reminder that lasting change depends on recognising the following:

• Improvement is social as well as technical.
• Improvement must be organised for continuous learning, not quick fixes.
• Improvement is accelerated by networks solving precise problems together.
• And improvement requires time: real progress is measured in decades, not years.

This is why, when I joined Lift Schools, I personally committed to the long term, looking to a 10-year horizon. A six-year strategy and 490 goals are not sufficient unless underpinned by persistence and patience.

In Chicago I saw a resolute commitment to structuring schools for learning, especially through deliberate investment of teacher time. There, teachers typically prepare lessons for no more than three different classes each week - teaching the same content to multiple groups to deepen subject expertise and reduce workload.

Fewer preparations allow for deeper planning and more meaningful feedback. Such operational choices convey respect for teachers’ time and sharpen focus on what matters most. They would probably be contentious here, but we should have the confidence to test similar principles. The prize is reduced workload and more quality time with pupils.

In England debate too often narrows to whether we need another assessment or a new list of prescribed content. The more fundamental question is: how do we build a coherent system that enables teachers to teach brilliantly and pupils to experience success, early and often?

The answer will not lie in a single measure. The proposal for additional Year 8 reading tests, for example, should be judged not by whether it creates another accountability point, but by whether it enables effective intervention and supports individual pathways. At Lift Schools our experience with annual reading diagnostics shows that assessments can be powerful, but only if acted upon consistently and urgently.

Key points for the curriculum review

What, then, could the curriculum review unlock?

1. Professional agency within a clear national entitlement

A national floor and arc are necessary, but professional judgement must bring them to life locally. When the curriculum is coherent and purposeful, engagement strengthens, teachers take greater pride in their craft, and better attendance follows.

2. Fewer and better assessments

“Evolution, not revolution” is the familiar mantra, but evolution must still move us forward. Key Stage 3, in particular, needs greater clarity and purpose. Too many students disengage at this stage, and teachers are too often constrained by early exam preparation. Smarter use of assessment could free time for deeper learning and earlier success.

3. Improved capacity

School reform lives or dies on leadership. No trust can outrun the quality of its school leaders. The responsibility to cultivate future headteachers, education directors and CEOs falls on academy trusts themselves. Policy ambition must be matched with investment in people.

In Chicago principals must pass a city-wide assessment to be eligible for appointment, and renew their licence every two years. In England we need a comparable seriousness about professional standards and development.

4. Data as a tool for learning

Chicago routinely combines student voice and climate indicators with objective attainment measures. England should follow suit. Data should reveal variation, illuminate practice and guide adaptation, not merely serve accountability.

5. Equity by design

Who is unseen in our system? If we expand our “known and noticed” philosophy to include what students themselves are noticing about school, we will close gaps more effectively and with greater dignity. Curriculum breadth is central to this. Music, drama, sport, dance and the arts are not peripheral; they are often the reason a child attends school.

If the curriculum and assessment review is bold enough to put engagement at the heart of national reform, then the government must match words with action: a clear national entitlement, leaner and more purposeful assessment, genuine space for professional judgement and the capacity to deliver.

These are the conditions of sustainable success. With them, schools will do the rest.

Becks Boomer-Clark is CEO of Lift Schools.

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