§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the performance of specialist schools. [107641]
§ Mr. MilibandIn 2002, specialist schools' 5 + A*-C GCSE/GNVQ performance was on average 6 percentage points higher than the equivalent performance in maintained, mainstream non-specialist schools (54.9 per cent. vs 48.9 per cent.).
Research carried out by Professor David Jesson (University of York) shows that the performance of each cohort of specialist schools and City Technology Colleges (from 1994 to 2001) has improved more than schools that were non-specialist at the time, with the exception of the 1996 and 1997 cohorts (see following table). This research excluded grammar schools, which, however, form a very similar percentage of both specialist schools and non-specialist schools.
345W
§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the examination performance of specialist schools compared with other schools. [108246]
§ Mr. MilibandI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley.