Guardian: Chains fail to meet government targets

From the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/29/academy-schools-gcse-target

This story looks at GCSE results stripping out equivalent qualifications to standard GCSEs, such as BTecs. The original work was done by Local Schools Network which opposes free schools and academies: http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2013/05/the-academies-illusion-what-the-data-reveals/ 



The research said the level of dependence on GCSE equivalents was higher in academies:
Academies (49.3% pass including equivalents - 34.6% pure GCSE) = 14.7% depends on equivalents
Non-academies (58.0% including equivalents - 50.8% pure GCSE) = 7.2% depends on equivalents

From the Guardian:

'...only the Harris Academy, United Learning and Ark chains overall would have passed the government's new threshold...'

E-Act
Oasis -
(...'fell below the government's previous floor target of 35% attaining grades C and above in five subjects')

Academies Enterprise Trust went from 52% to 36.5%
Oasis from 52% to 39% without equivalents.
Ormiston Academies Trust went from 54% to 36%.