Fewer than one in seven Birmingham children met a new GCSE benchmark backed by the Government, league tables showed.
Just 13.6 per cent of pupils in the city achieved the English Baccalaureate, included in Key Stage 4 results tables for the first time this year.
And across the West Midlands, only a clear minority of pupils met the new standard.
In Coventry, 6.9 per cent of youngsters gained exam results qualifying them for the English Baccalaureate while the figure in Worcestershire was 15 per cent.
Head teachers have responded with fury after the Government published figures for the new benchmark alongside traditional league tables showing how many youngsters obtained five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said: “The retrospective introduction of performance measures, relating to a qualification that is actually not in existence, will alienate the profession from an idea which could have had real merit if introduced with engagement and time to plan. As it is, it just becomes another misleading and unhelpful league table.
The English Baccalaureate shows how many pupils are gaining at least a C grade in English, maths, sciences, either history or geography, and a language.
It mirrors similar qualifications in European and Asian countries. It does not replace GCSEs but is designed to recognise the success of pupils who achieve good grades in a wide range of subjects.
At Al-Hijrah Secondary School, in Burbidge Road, Birmingham, 31 per cent of pupils reached the target, but at Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School, in Acocks Green, Birmingham, just 12 per cent reached the benchmark, and at Aston Manor School only nine per cent.
Education Secretary Michael Gove introduced the English Baccalaureate saying he was “worried” by the decline in the number of students taking GCSE sciences and languages and to combat a “dramatic collapse” in the number of GCSE pupils taking serious academic subjects.
However, many schools in the West Midlands achieved top GCSE results overall.
Schools in Sandwell achieved their best ever results with 75 per cent of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grade C or above, an increase of nine percentage points.
And when English and maths were included in the figures, the percentage of pupils achieving five A* to C rose from 37.5 per cent to a new high of 43.6 per cent.
In Birmingham, top GCSE results meant a city school kept its record of being the most improved in the UK ever. Perry Beeches School, in Perry Barr, scored 100 per cent of A* to C grades including maths and English. The result compared with a national average of 53.1 per cent.
Head teacher Liam Nolan said that just three years ago only 30 per cent of pupils got five A* to C grades and 21 per cent with English and maths.
He added: “This isn’t some school in the south, in Surrey, or some nice suburb, this is our city. We are an inner-city comprehensive school and we’re delighted about that.”
The number of pupils in Warwickshire achieving five or more GCSE grades A* to C also saw its biggest ever rise.
Fifty-nine per cent of pupils achieved five or more GCSE grades A* to C or equivalent, including English and maths, a five per cent increase on the previous year.
Coun Heather Timms, the council’s portfolio holder for children, young people and families, said: “These results are the product of more than 11 years of learning by these pupils and teaching by their teachers throughout their primary and secondary school years, and they should all be proud of their success.”
Jonathan Walker Page 33
For full GCSE and A-level tables visit birminghampost.net/education
