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"The specialist schools programme was launched by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) [now DfES] in September 1994 when a small number of grant-maintained and voluntary-aided schools began operating as technology colleges. The opportunity to apply for specialist school designation through open competition has been available to all maintained secondary schools in England since 1995. Since then, the number of schools involved has increased rapidly. The programme has included specialist schools for languages since 1996 and for sport and the arts since 1997.
Taken overall, the technology, language and arts colleges operating at or before September 1998 performed better than national averages in relation to the GCSE average points scores gained in each year of their operation (1995–2000). The performance of sports colleges as a group was below the national averages in each year.
Based on the proportion of pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades, attainment in the GCSE examinations was significantly higher in 2000 in the technology, language and arts colleges in the survey than in maintained secondary schools nationally. In sports colleges, the proportion was below.
Based on the proportion of pupils gaining five or more A*-G grades, attainment was higher in each specialist type compared to maintained schools, except in sports colleges, where it was about the same.
The numbers of arts and sports colleges among the specialist schools operating on or before September 1998 were small, at 17 arts colleges and 26 sports colleges, and the data on them needs to be treated with caution."
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