Researchers have identified clusters of secondary schools with poor progress scores that may have been “disguised in published statistics” because they cross local authority boundaries.

The findings show the limitations of targeting resources and interventions at particular local authority areas, the researchers say.

There are 33 groups of six or more secondary schools with average Progress 8 scores of less than -0.5, according to the findings by FFT Datalab.

A score of 0 means pupils on average do as well as those with similar prior attainment nationally at GCSE level. But a negative score means they do worse, and -0.5 would be half a grade worse.  

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“Many of the clusters are where local authority-level data would lead us to expect: Blackpool, Portsmouth, Liverpool and others,” write researchers Philip Nye and Dave Thomson in a blog published today.

But the research “brings to light some things that are otherwise disguised in published statistics”, they add.

For example, there are two overlapping clusters of six schools with low P8 scores in the north-east of Kent - one in the Broadstairs area with an average score of -0.6, and another centred a little along the coast from Margate on -0.54. 

“That is lost in statistics for a large local authority like Kent,” the blog says.

And in the North West, there is “a large area stretching west of Salford, encompassing parts of Bolton and Wigan”, where clusters of schools all have average P8 scores below -0.5.

Mr Nye said: “It’s very noticeable that some of the areas are coastal communities which have been flagged previously as areas where you see lower results.

“It fits with our picture of what we know about some of these communities, where white working-class boys aren’t doing as well as expected and are found in greater numbers.”

When the criteria is extended to groups of schools with an average score of -0.4 or less, there are 83 clusters of schools, including in London and south Bristol.

 Clusters of six or more schools with an average score of -0.4 or less.

Mr Nye said the findings “should serve as a reminder that analysing things at local authority level, while convenient, isn’t without problems - there are going to be things that aren’t easy to spot when you have large LAs such as Kent. And the performance of small LAs such as Knowsley is going to look more extreme.”

But he also cautioned against allocating resources based on any form of geography. Mr Nye said: “We think policies that successfully target pupils with low attainment and progress wherever they are in the country would be more effective than policies targeted geographically. Government is sometimes too keen to pursue the latter.”

The blog draws attention to some of the drawbacks to using Progress 8 as a measure, but highlights that it is used by the DfE and parents to compare schools.

Clusters of six or more schools with a P8 score of -0.4 or less

Area where cluster is based                    Number of clusters in area

 In or around Blackpool 2  In or around Bolton 2  In or around Bristol, City of 1  In or around Bury 1  In or around Cornwall 2  In or around Cumbria 1  In or around Derbyshire 2  In or around Devon 3  In or around Durham 1  In or around Essex 1  In or around Hampshire 6  In or around Kent 4  In or around Kirklees 1  In or around Knowsley 3  In or around Lancashire 3  In or around Lewisham 1  In or around Liverpool 5  In or around Manchester 2  In or around Middlesbrough 1  In or around North Tyneside 2  In or around NottIngham 1  In or around Oldham 2  In or around Plymouth 3  In or around Redcar and Cleveland 3  In or around Salford 5  In or around Sandwell 2  In or around Sefton 6  In or around Solihull 1  In or around Somerset 1  In or around South Tyneside 1  In or around St. Helens 2  In or around Staffordshire 2  In or around Sunderland 1  In or around Tameside 3  In or around Warwickshire 2  In or around West Sussex 1  In or around Wigan 3