“…This interest in educational performance has become intense in the UK in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the quality of schooling and the adverse effects of this on economic competitiveness (Prais, 1995;Finegold and Soskice, 1988;Keep and Mayhew, 1988). Moreover, the skills and competencies acquired at school are critical to determining job prospects and lifetime earnings (Andrews and Bradley, 1997;Bennett, Glennerster and Nevison, 1995;Connolly, Micklewright and Nickell, 1992;Makepeace, 1996;Harman and Walker, 1997). 1 Interest in school outcomes in the UK has recently been heightened by three factors: firstly, the introduction of greater parental choice of school; secondly, the delegation to schools of greater control over their budgets through the policy of Local Management of Schools; and thirdly, the annual publication of the School Performance Tables.…”