New Government measures introduced to GCSE performance tables have resulted in a drop in the number of pupils appearing to achieve good grades across Leicester and Leicestershire.
Provisional local authority figures released by the Department for Education (DfE) yesterday for this summer's results, show that in Leicester, 51.2 per cent of pupils who took GCSEs achieved five or more at C or above, including English and maths - a drop of 3.6 percentage points on the previous year.
In Leicestershire, it was 56 per cent - a drop of 3.5 percentage points.
Nationally, the figure for state schools in England was 55.9 per cent, compared to 60.6 per cent the previous year - a drop of 4.7 points.
Changes to the tables this year make direct comparisons difficult with fewer vocational qualifications included in them. Also, where previously some qualifications such as BTECs may have counted as the equivalent of four GCSEs, they now only count as one.
In addition, only the first result a pupil achieves in English, maths, science and language subjects, as well as history and geography, are counted - the subjects that make up the so called English Baccalaureate certificate.
A spokeswoman for Leicester City Council said: "Results in Leicester always rise between provisional and final data due to re-marks and new arrivals being discounted.
"Results have fallen across the county owing to the removal of many equivalent qualifications that previously counted, not only that but historically schools have been able to report on their best GCSE results, including re-takes. This year's tables only record the first entry.
"Schools nationally have also reported issues which may have influenced the results this year, including the removal of speaking and listening in GCSE English."
Final GCSE data will not be available until December.
Councillor Vi Dempster said the local authority continued to close the gap between local attainment and the national average.
The number of pupils achieving five or more good grades across all subjects appears to have also decreased due to the changes.
In Leicester, 61.4 per cent of pupils achieved this benchmark in 2013/14, compared to 79.6 per cent the year before - a drop of 18.2 percentage points.
Some 66 per cent reached the benchmark in the county this summer, compared to 82 per cent the previous year - a drop of 16 percentage points.
Nationally, across England's state schools this was 65.1 per cent, compared to 83 per cent the year before.
Councillor Ivan Ould, Leicestershire County Council cabinet member for children and families, said: "GCSEs form the building blocks for young people's futures and I'm pleased that our figures are above the national average. We want all of our people to achieve their goals and aim to continue to improve the progress that students make, particularly 11 to 16 year olds, in core subjects."
