Recent GCSE News Articles

[Jon]

GCSEs have been in the news recently. Here are some articles. If you spot any interesting articles feel free to post them here...

Gap of 30% in A-level top grades (Jan 5 2009)
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/01/05/gap-of-30-in-a-level-top-grades-91466-22606883/

Record exam results celebrated (30 Dec 2008)
http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/Record-exam-results-celebrated.4823139.jp

Are GCSEs too dull for bright pupils? (Dec 19 2008)
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article5367060.ece

Thousands with good GCSEs drop out (Dec 11 2008)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5326998.ece

[krister68]

Below is an article from the Guardian dealing with the "target culture" in schools missing the point.

Good news for the 273 formerly failing schools in England that have pushed up their GCSE results above the government's target. Bad news for the 80 schools added to the list of those that missed the target...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/jan/15/schools-targets-culture

[krister68]

The BBC News web site today listed the schools in England in which 100% of the pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieved the Level 2 threshold - equivalent to five GCSEs at grade C or above - including English and maths GCSEs in 2008.

You can read the ful article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ed

[krister68]

The latest statistics show one in seven secondaries are not ensuring 30 per cent of their pupils achieve at least five C grades - including in English and maths.

That means than 370,000 children are being taught at 440 underperforming secondary schools.

Read the rest here:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090115/tuk-underperforming-schools-face-closure-dba1618_1.html

[Jon]

Thanks krister68! Some interesting reading...