Schools, Pupils and Examination Results: contextualising school ‘performance’

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This article seeks to demonstrate the extent to which school‐level performance in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is underpinned by variations in the socio‐economic background of pupils. Using a postcode‐census method of profiling the socio‐economic characteristics of school populations, the study analyses the examination performance of 259 schools in 12 local education authorities (LEAs). Describing an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression model which accounts for 64% of between‐school variance in the GCSE performance of non‐selective schools, the paper concludes (1) that uncontextualised performance statistics are fundamentally flawed, and (2) that policies directed at school improvement must acknowledge and address underlying constraints on school performance.</jats:p>