This article examines secondary school admissions criteria in England. The analysis revealed that in a signi®cant minority of schools, notably those responsible for their own admissionsÐvoluntary-aided and foundation schoolsÐa variety of criteria were used which appear to be designed to select certain groups of pupils and so exclude others. Specialist schools were more likely than nonspecialist schools to report selecting a proportion of pupils on the basis of aptitude/ability in a particular subject area but voluntary-aided/foundation schools were far more likely to select on this basis than community/voluntary-controlled schools. Criteria giving priority to children with medical/social needs were given for nearly three-quarters of schools; however, community/ voluntary-controlled schools were more likely to include this as a criterion than were voluntaryaided/foundation schools. Nearly two-®fths of schools mentioned as an oversubscription criterion, pupils with special educational needs; these were predominantly community/voluntary-controlled schools as opposed to voluntary-aided/foundation schools. The evidence reported here reveals that despite attempts by the Labour Government to reform school admissions, considerable`selection' takes place. Implications for policy are addressed.
This article analyses pupil national assessment results at Key Stage 1 (KS1) in the three core curriculum areas (English, mathematics and science) and in terms of an overall measure of performance across these areas for a sample of over 2400 pupils drawn from 62 inner London primary schools. It explores the influence of pupil background characteristics and school attended on attainment at KS1 and provides a contextualised analysis of schools' performance. The findings demonstrate the greater importance of background factors (gender, age, low income, fluency in English) as influences on English attainment in comparison with other subjects and the implications of this for the publication of raw national assessment results are highlighted. The extent to which process information about school and classroom organisation and teaching practices accounts for school-level variation in pupils' attainment is also explored. A number of significant relationships are identified and their implications discussed.
The distribution of pupils amongst schools is fundamental to concerns about equality of educational opportunity and it is for this reason that the process by which pupils are admitted to schools is of significance. This paper focuses on admissions criteria and practices used by English secondary schools in 2001 and 2008 in light of changes to legislation and the regulatory context. In 2008, unlike 2001, virtually all schools gave priority to children in care and very few used interviews. In a minority of schools, predominantly those responsible for their own admissions, criteria designed to 'select in' certain pupils were used, with partial selection by aptitude/ability increasing over time.An analysis of 'supplementary information forms' revealed that a minority of schools requested information that was prohibited and unrelated to admissions criteria. Notwithstanding some positive impacts, further changes could make the admissions process easier for parents/carers and enhance equality of educational opportunity.
This article focuses on student admissions to charter schools in the United States and to autonomous (foundation and voluntary-aided) secondary schools in England. Analyses of the admissions criteria used by autonomous and nonautonomous secondary schools in England revealed that more autonomous than nonautonomous schools reported using potentially selective criteria. Examination results were higher in autonomous than nonautonomous schools and even higher in those that used potentially selective admissions criteria. Fewer students with special educational needs attended autonomous schools. The similarities between the admissions practices used by certain charter schools and the published admissions criteria used by certain autonomous schools in England are discussed. The evidence is suggestive of both "cream skimming" and "cropping off" educational provision to particular groups of students. It is concluded that the introduction of marketoriented reforms into public school systems requires monitoring and effective regulation to ensure that autonomous schools do not act in their own self-interest.
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