In some cases, statistics tracking the progress of pupils suggests the gap between different racial groups is actually widening, with young people from black Caribbean backgrounds causing particular concern.

The report, commissioned by the Northamptonshire Race Equality Council and the Wellingborough Black Consortium, outlines several recommendations for schools in the county to improve results, and suggests some may have been failing to fulfil their legal obligations to provide race equality action plans.

Its author, Professor Andrew Pilkington from The University of Northampton, said: "Taking the results for reading, writing and maths together, the groups that give the most cause for concern because they underachieve to a significant degree across the board are the Somalis, Bangladeshis and black Caribbeans.

"Examination of trends over time confirms that black Caribbeans and other black children are a particular cause for concern, since the gap between them and the white British is growing."

The report, which will be discussed at a meeting of Northamptonshire County Council's children and young people scrutiny committee later this month, assesses the results of different ethnic groups through primary school up to GCSE level, between 2003 and 2006.

Prof Pilkington said: "The underachievement of black Caribbean pupils cannot be simply explained away in terms of social class, since differences remain even when controls are made for social class. Something else is going on and additional explanations are needed.

"The local authority should produce an annual monitoring report on ethnic differences in educational achievement and should disseminate this widely to schools, the racial equality council and community groups.

"It should consider further ways of monitoring how schools are fulfilling their legal requirements in maintaining race equality action plans.

"There is anecdotal evidence that schools are in some cases failing to fulfil these legal obligations."

The manager of the county council's children and young people scrutiny committee, James Edmunds, said the report would be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday, January 23.

He added: "The purpose of presenting the research report to the committee is to enable it to give effective consideration to work intended to mitigate the risk of young people not being able to secure effective outcomes from education."

elizabeth.lee@northantsnews.co.uk