Schools need to nurture the most able, Professor Jesson said

Professor David Jesson said talent "was going to waste" because schools were not capitalising on their potential.

He told a conference of specialist schools that they needed to grasp an opportunity to develop that talent.

Professor Jesson said it was a myth that independent schools educated more "brighter" pupils than state schools.

Ability

State schools educate around 30,000 of the top 5% of able pupils compared with 7,500 in the independent sector, said Professor Jesson, who is based at Sheffield University.

But he referred to research by the Sutton Trust, which suggests that social background was still a factor in the attainment of the most able.

Its chairman Sir Peter Lampl said there was evidence of an "educational apartheid" between state and private schools.

He said places in private schools should be based on academic ability rather than ability to pay - but the government rejected this.

Able children in schools with a large proportion of similar students were more likely to do well at GCSE level, the research suggests. But these schools tend to be situated in more affluent areas.

Where there are 40 or more children identified as very able, less than 5% of all pupils are entitled to free school meals, the research suggests.

At the age of 11, 7% of pupils attend independent schools. At age 16, 25% of those gaining GCSEs at grades A* or A are privately educated. Just over one third of students gaining three A grades at A-level are from independent schools, as are 44% of Oxbridge entrants.

Professor Jesson, who said his comments were made on research which is still work in progress, said a "talent drain" existed where pupils who displayed good results in their Key Stage 2 tests aged 11 did not go on to achieve the GCSE and A-level results of which they were capable.

Professor Jesson did not say if he believed teaching methods or smaller class sizes in independent schools might contribute to better results. He said the final research paper may draw more conclusions.

"Rather I wanted to show the opportunity that state schools have and what they should be moving towards."

Goals

Professor Jesson said it was "vital" that all schools should have access to the raw scores from the tests taken by 11 year olds leaving primary school so that teachers could set clear goals for their future achievement.

"If you don't know where the children are starting from you cannot set those goals," he said.

"We have the technology so we should get on and do it."

He added: "Many state schools are doing very well in this area. But all are well able to capitalise."

"I want to motivate schools to do something about this."

Ways in which schools could nurture the brightest pupils included projects run by the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, and partnerships with independent schools, he said.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said bright state school pupils were doing far better since 1997.

"For example, the number of A-level candidates in state education achieving three As has almost doubled," he said.