ABSTRACT

The school characteristics are important for influencing a person's future educational attainment. This chapter focuses on school resources; the institutional environment; and school type. 'Resources' are usually measured as school expenditure or class size. London is a success story in educational terms. Disadvantaged students have higher achievement in inner London than in the rest of the country. Part of the reason for the success of London schools is that they have a high proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds and on average ethnic groups make more educational progress than White pupils. Publicly available information comes in two main forms: school performance tables and inspection reports from the statutory agency responsible for monitoring schools' performance. The chapter discusses publicly funded schools with a greater degree of autonomy than average and evidence about the merits of academically selective versus non-academically selective schools. Finally, it discusses evidence about the efficacy of schools that operate entirely outside the public sector.