A Department for Children, Schools and Families report on education and deprivation, published last week, reveals that the attainment of pupils on free school meals has risen by 11 per cent between 2003 and 2007, but that pupils from deprived backgrounds are still less likely to do well, more likely to truant and more likely to be excluded than their more affluent peers.
Speaking at the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference, Ed Balls told delegates that he plans to radically overhaul school accountability.
He said that the report Breaking the Link showed that schools in deprived areas are improving the results of disadvantaged pupils faster than schools in more affluent areas. "Narrowing the gap is not just a challenge to some heads in some schools - but to all heads in all schools," he said.
New school report cards, proposed in the government's 21st-Century School consultation, will uncover whether schools are improving the results of disadvantaged pupils when they are launched in September. The cards will also expose so-called "coasting schools", which do little to challenge the most able pupils.
The government is yet to announce whether not the new accountability system will replace league tables. But Balls admitted that league tables are unfit for purpose. He said: "I don't think school league tables capture what makes schools great."
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