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Parent teams have solely been behind about one in 5 of the free schools which have been opened, say researchers.
The flagship coverage, launched beneath the coalition authorities, was meant to carry innovation and extra parental option to schools in England.
But Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, which carried out the free faculty research, stated "very few are fulfilling that original purpose".
The Department for Education stated free schools had been elevating requirements.
The research, from the Sutton Trust social mobility charity and the National Foundation for Educational Research, says new free schools at the moment are more likely to be created by increasing academy trusts.
'Distinctive mission'
Free schools, the primary of which opened in 2011, function outdoors of native authority networks and had been supposed to be a modern response to the calls for of native mother and father.
The research examined greater than 300 created till autumn 2017.
Initially, about 40% had been opened with father or mother teamshowever since 2015, that has fallen to beneath 20% at secondary degree. In major and all-through schoolspeople who educate children of all agesit's down to only four%.
"In reality, the free school programme has been a vehicle by which new schools are opened by academy chains," says the research.
Since 2015, virtually 4 in 5 of the new free schools have been arrange by academy trusts.
They are additionally much less more likely to have a "distinctive mission" than different schoolsand the report says the federal government wants to clarify what it now sees as the aim of free schools.
The evaluation additionally discovered:
- At secondary degree, pupils at free schools carry out barely higher
- They have "largely been set up in areas with a need for more school places"
- Free schools have a larger proportion of ethnic minority pupils in contrast with different faculty varieties in their native catchment areas
- In secondary schools, the over-representation of ethnic minority pupils is pushed by religion free schools
- There has been a development in non-Christian religion schools, comparable to Muslim, Jewish and Sikh
- They have a barely decrease proportion of deprived pupils, however poorer pupils in free schools do higher than their friends in different schools
The report says that if free schools at the moment are very more likely to be a part of academy chains, with few different distinctive options, there must be extra readability about how they're funded and supervised and to ensure they characterize "value for public money".
There had been a presumption that every one new schools must be free schools.
But this efficient monopoly might change, because the Education Secretary Damian Hinds has introduced that councils might open new religion schools, categorised as "voluntary aided" somewhat than free.
The subsequent wave of about 35 free schools goes to be directed in the direction of the lowest-performing areas of England, significantly the North East.
Toby Young, founding father of the West London Free School, stated that regardless that this could be seen as a vital report, it confirmed that free schools had been serving disadvantaged and ethnic minority pupils.
"Turns out, these schools are not just benefiting middle-class children," he added.
"But most strikingly of all, the report found that children from deprived backgrounds at free schools do much better than their counterparts at other types of school. To be precise, disadvantaged pupils get higher grades in three out of eight GCSEs."
'Smoke and mirrors'
Carole Willis, chief government of the National Foundation for Educational Research, stated: "The government's free schools programme has not been very successful at bringing innovation to the education system and encouraging more parents and teachers to set up new schools".
"If the government is still committed to the programme's original purpose then it should review and clarify the mission of free schools."
Kevin Courtney, co-leader of the National Education Union, stated the free faculty programme had thus far price £three.6bn, and the report confirmed the "notion of increased parental choice" had been "simply smoke and mirrors".
Mark Lehain, the interim director of the New Schools Networkwhich promotes the opening of free schoolsstated: "As a father or mother and founding father of a free faculty, I understand how a lot the coverage has allowed native communities to get the schools they need.
"Free schools are still the best way for innovation to flourish and voices of the community to be heard."
The Department for Education stated that free schools had been a part of its efforts to boost requirementsand that 84% of these inspected had been rated both good or excellent.
"We are now inviting applications for more free schools and will prioritise those proposals that want to set up in areas with the lowest educational performance and greatest need for more good school places," stated a DFE spokeswoman.