ABSTRACT
Policy-makers worldwide keep creating new kinds of schools that are similar to every other kind (i.e. there is no dismantling or radical re-engineering of the concept of schools), claiming success for electoral or other reasons and then not allowing these schools to be evaluated properly. Several studies based in the US have reported evidence that attainment can be affected by the type of school attended, such as the Promise Academy charter middle school (Dobbie and Fryer 2009), Knowledge is Power Programme middle schools (Tuttle et al. 2010) and more general charter schools (Gleason et al. 2010). A recent example in England is the Academies programme, started by one government in 2000, continued by the next government from 2010 and now extended to include ‘Free’ schools.
