Abstract
AbstractThe Department for Education's performance tables for English schools report a range of measures from examination results to truancy rates. League tables, on the other hand, aim to provide a simple rank order of schools, often based upon data reported in performance tables. Technically accurate league tables allow the user to make valid inferences regarding the quality of a school from its position in the table. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse one of Britain's most widely disseminated league tables, The Sunday Times State Schools Book. It is demonstrated that the table fails to meet any of the technical requirements which would assure its internal construct validity and its technical shortcomings are shown to impact adversely on a large number of schools. Finally, it is argued that modern validity inquiry effectively rules out the creation of ‘valid’ league tables purporting to rank schools according to quality.
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