Analyzes the educational progress of 530,000 pupils in England between age 7 in 2000 and age 11 in 2004. The results show that Black Caribbean boys not entitled to free school meals, and particularly the more able pupils, made significantly less progress than their White British peers. There is no evidence that the gap results from Black Caribbean pupils attending less effective schools. The results suggest the poor progress of Black Caribbean pupils reflects a systemic issue rather than the influence of a small number of "low quality" schools.
Draws upon 14 semi-structured interviews with the participants in a teacher-researcher project on the theme of "ensuring African Caribbean attainment" with the aim of shedding light on the purposes, processes and lived experiences of teacher research in a difficult and contentious intellectual and practical domain.
An analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students in England. Socioeconomic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less "progress" than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British-Black Caribbean gap are considered.