Another One Bites The Dust

Don't be shocked, but another article of faith amongst the educrats has just been blown out of the water.

Remember how 'value-added' tables, which show how much a pupil has improved since starting at a school, were going to expose successful grammar schools as the star-spotting, talent-looting trash they are ? The latest round of 14 year old's test results are in, and they reveal that not only do grammar schools dominate the top of the table, but they also dominate the 'value-added' tables. In other words, far from their success being the result of cherry picking, grammars are more successful than their competitors at actually developing talent. All of which will have the teaching unions reaching for the cyanide.

The unions have always maintained that schools are only as successful as they pupils they take in. This demonstration that successful schools are also those which are most successful at developing talent makes that position untenable. Success isn't just blind luck and sociology after all. Good teaching can develop talent, and where success is lacking then questions can be asked about the quality of teaching.