Tackling educational inequality - CentreForum

Tackling educational inequality
1.3 PERFORMANCE AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL
At the school level, headline improvements are also not quite what
they seem. Official statistics show a steady reduction in the number
of schools in special measures (from 515 in 1997 to 243 at the end
of 2006) as well as in the numbers of “low attaining” secondary and
primary schools (figures 7 and 8), defined as those failing to achieve the
government’s floor targets.
However, despite this apparent improvement, the overall number of
schools described as poorly performing remains high. In August 2005,
1,557 schools were classified as poorly performing (see figure 9), over
7 per cent of the total number of maintained schools. 3
Figure 7: Low-attaining secondary schools by proportion
of pupils achieving at least 5 GCSEs grades a* to c,1997
to 2005
Below 30% Below 25% Below 20%
1000
896
800
600
Number of schools
400
232
Floor target
aims
200
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: Unpublished DfES data, 2006
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