Government claims that academies have already raised standards "fail to stand up to even superficial scrutiny", Professor Gorard said.
ccThe Increase in the proportion of pupils gaining five Cs or better in their GCSEs at the Business academy, Bexley, south London - from 7 per cent in 2002 to 21 per cent a year later- have been cited by the Government as evidence of the programme's impact.
Yet it neglected to mention the predecessor school had achieved better results (24 per cent getting five A*-Cs) in 1998 - at a time when national results were lower and when the school had a higher proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The academy was given a notice to improve in January after being judged inadequate by inspectors.
