23 January 2013 Last updated at 21:58 ET

Secondary school league tables published

The league tables look at performance in more than 4,000 secondaries

Secondary school league tables for England are due to be published later as official government data on pupils' achievement is made public.

The data covers achievement in more than 4,000 mainstream state and independent schools, based on the results of last summer's exams.

Ministers say the tables keep schools accountable and enhance parental choice.

Critics argue that they merely reflect the kind of pupils a school has.

Targets

The tables being produced by the BBC will allow users to rank schools by their headline GCSE and A-level results, as well as giving background information on how well children progress. This contextual information is found in the value added column.

They also show how many pupils attained the English Baccalaureate certificate - a wrap-around qualification which requires pupils to get A*-C GCSE passes in maths, English, two science subjects, a language and either history or geography.

Information on how many schools have met the government's new benchmark for GCSE results is expected to be revealed in the data.

Last year ministers said schools were below standard if fewer than 35% of pupils obtained five good GCSEs including English and maths, and 107 schools missed that target.

But this year the government requires 40% of pupils in a school to obtain five good GCSEs. Last year 251 schools would have missed the 40% target had it been in place.