[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22873257

Thousands of bright children are being let down by England's non-selective secondary schools, inspectors warn.

A culture of low expectations meant able pupils were failing to achieve top GCSE grades, Ofsted said in a report.

In 2012, 65% of pupils - 65,000 children - who had achieved Level 5 in maths and English tests at the end of primary school failed to attain A* or A grades in both these subjects at GCSE.

Head teachers said school league tables pushed schools into the middle ground.

The report - The Most Able Students: Are they doing as well as they should in our non-selective secondary schools? - found more than a quarter (27%) of previously high-attaining pupils had failed to achieve at least a B grade in both English and maths.

Ofsted defines high-achievers as those pupils who achieve a Level 5 in both English and maths in their national curriculum tests, commonly known as Sats.

The research - based on observations of 2,000 lessons, visits to 41 schools and school performance data - found in some non-selective schools, staff did not even know who their most able pupils were.

In 40% of the schools visited by inspectors, the brightest students were not making the progress they were capable of and many had become "used" to performing at lower levels, with parents and teachers accepting this "too readily", Ofsted said.

Tracking the progress of the most academically gifted was "not used sufficiently well in many schools", the report added.

Ofsted was critical of mixed-ability classes, saying they often saw "a lack of differentiation, teaching to the middle, and the top pupils not being stretched".

That results in that report would certainly seem to explain why, generally, standards of academic achievement have dropped in recent years .....

[GiRTh]

Agree. The leave no child behind policy has turned into make sure all kids reach a very basic standard.