Pupils likely to gain better GCSE grades at specialist schools

Pupils of all levels of ability are likely to do better if they attend a specialist school rather than a standard comprehensive, according to research published yesterday.

A national comparison of the "value added" by secondary schools between age 11 and the GCSE exams showed that pupils at specialist schools achieved higher grades than predicted, given their test results at the end of primary education.

While the proportion of pupils achieving at least five A* to C grades at GCSEs at specialist schools was 3 percentage points higher than expected given their primary school results, in all other non-selective schools the success rate was 1.5 percentage point below expectations.

The analysis of more than 500,000 pupils' results was produced by Professor David Jesson, an economist and expert in performance evaluation from York University, for the Specialist Schools Trust. His study compared pupils' progress at 656 non-selective specialist schools with those at 2,342 non-specialist comprehensive or secondary modern schools.

Critics of the Government's specialist school programme have argued that specialist schools may achieve better results by creaming off the best pupils, who are attracted by their status and extra funding. All state secondary schools in England are able to apply for specialist school status. Applicants must raise £50,000 in private-sector sponsorship and prepare four-year development plans setting out how they will improve teaching and learning at the school. In return they receive a £100,000 grant and each year £123 extra per pupil.

There are currently 1,209 specialist schools and 15 city technology colleges covering eight specialisms: technology, languages, arts, sport, business and enterprise, maths and computing, engineering and science. Ministers have set a target to have at least 2,000 specialist schools by 2006.

Professor Jesson said the study demonstrated that specialist schools outperformed other schools for pupils of all levels of ability. "They are at the vanguard of school improvement," he said.

The lead was greatest for pupils of average and slightly above average ability. The largest gap was for average students where the proportion achieving five good GCSEs was 7 percentage points higher.

The study found that pupils entering ordinary comprehensives had scored on average 25.6 points in English, maths and science tests at primary school. For those joining specialist comprehensives the average score was 25.9.

Professor Jesson argued that this difference was small and could not explain the entire difference in GCSE results. Last summer, 54.1 per cent of pupils at specialist schools achieved five good GCSE passes, compared with the predicted 51.1 per cent. In other comprehensives, 48.2 per cent of pupils were predicted to gain five good passes, but only 46.7 reached this level.

His research also found that specialist schools achieved better results than other non-selective schools in the core subjects of English, maths and science. Sixty per cent of specialist school pupils gained an A* to C grade in English, compared with 54 per cent in other schools. In maths and science, 52 per cent of specialist school pupils achieved this standard compared with 46 per cent in other schools.

Meanwhile, 41 per cent of specialist pupils achieved at least a C grade in all three core subjects, compared with 36 per cent in other schools.

Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools Trust, said the results were not good enough and the trust would be putting greater focus on this key measure of employability in the future.