Christine Gilbert of the Academies Commission: 'Academisation alone is not going to deliver the improvements we need.' Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian.
Some academy schools have been accused of manipulating admissions to improve results and using covert selection methods, according to a major report into the programme, which also warns that the government's push to boost the number of academies is not leading to a consistent rise in standards.
A number of academy chains are seemingly more focused on expanding their empires than improving their existing schools, the report concludes.
The study, led by Ofsted's former chief inspector Christine Gilbert, also notes an overall lack of transparency and openness, particularly over the way academy sponsors are chosen, and warns that too many school governors are not up to the hugely more significant role they play in academies.
The report comes from the self-styled Academies Commission, which broadly backs the "aspirational vision" of academies and has links to the programme. The commission was set up by the Royal Society of Arts, which sponsors an academy in Tipton, West Midlands, and the textbooks giant Pearson. Among Gilbert's co-authors is Brett Wigdortz, founder of Teach First, the charity that brings high-flying graduates into disadvantaged schools and is hugely popular with Michael Gove, the education secretary..........
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jan/10/academy-schools-covert-selection-skew-intake
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