ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the performance of different ethnic groups on tests given at their first school and middle school respectively. By contrast, D. J. Smith and S. Tomlinson reported in their study of The School Effect: earlier in the pupils' secondary school careers, attainment tests had indicated that 'West Indian' and South Asian children had entered the schools with lower than average scores in reading and maths. However, the performance of the white pupils is proportionately much better on the spelling test than the Afro-Caribbean children. The tests used by the schools included a standardised reading test, undertaken prior to the children's transfer to the middle school, and the performance on the Richmond Tests taken by all children across the whole year group in the middle school. The proportion of Asian pupils obtaining scores on or above the mean for vocabulary, reading and spelling does not improve statistically through the four-year groups of the middle school.
