Academy Myths

Academy Myths

Ten Academy Myths – True /False quiz*

1. “Academies’ GCSE results improved by nearly twice as much as in non academy schools in 2011” (DfE)
TRUE/FALSE
2. Academies that have been running for a long time get better GCSE results than non academies
TRUE/FALSE
3. Academies with high levels of disadvantaged students do better than similar non academies (The Telegraph)
TRUE/FALSE
4. Academies make their results appear better by getting students to take easier qualifications
TRUE/FALSE
5. Although individual academies have mixed results, the education chains (like Harris) perform strongly
TRUE/FALSE
6. Academies exclude twice as many students as other state secondary schools
TRUE/FALSE
7. Funding levels for academies are available for the general public to see
(David Cameron told Education Select Committee)
TRUE/FALSE
8. The accounts for education chains, like all other charities, are made publicly available by the Charities Comission
TRUE/FALSE
9. Mossbourne is an academy and performs exceptionally well.Therefore all academies will perform exceptionally well
TRUE/FALSE
10. “All those schools that have taken on academy freedoms are working with other schools to help them raise standards more broadly.” (Michael Gove)
TRUE/FALSE

All the information about academies that is used in this quiz was compiled from the Department for Education’s own data by Henry Stewart of the Local Schools Network. It relates only to secondary schools. Why? Because the government doesn’t even have any data for primary schools!

You can find more information and data, including graphs, in this section.

* Answers: 1 F 2 F 3 F 4 T * 5 F 6 T 7 F 8 F 9 F * 10 F
* Q 4 They use GCSE ‘equivalents’ to boost results. When the lesser qualifications are taken out of the picture, the academies do even less well than LA maintained (community) schools.
* Q 9 That’s a bit like saying ‘David Beckham is a man and he’s a world class footballer. Therefore all men will become world class footballers.’ ????

(Source)