CATHOLIC pupils have outperformed their Protestant peers in GCSE exams in every full school year since the turn of the millennium, new figures show.
Statistics released in the assembly reveal that children educated in schools under Catholic management are more likely to achieve at least five `good' grades.
There has been a massive improvement in exam results since the mid-1990s.
In 1997, just over half of all pupils achieved the target of five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C. By last year, this had risen to more than eight out of 10.
New figures, released in response to an assembly question by former education minister Caitríona Ruane, show improvement across all categories - gender, community and socio-economic.
However, young Catholics have achieved a higher proportion of top grades every year since 2000/01.
This is despite the fact that Catholic children are more likely to come from a deprived background.
The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) was established in 1989 in response to concerns about underachievement.
In 2000, the proportion of Catholic pupils achieving five of more A*-C grades was 55.8 per cent - compared to 56.6 per cent from a Protestant background.
In every year since a higher proportion of Catholics achieved the benchmark - in 2015, it was 82.7 per cent of Catholic students compared to 78.9 per cent of Protestants.
Since the Irish News started compiling annual performance lists based on A-level and GCSE results, Catholic schools have also typically been the best performers.
In the most recent, published in April, every one of the top 10 grammar schools were Catholic, with St Dominic's High School in west Belfast leading the way.
St Eugene's College in Roslea and St Comhghall's College in Lisnaskea occupied the top two spots in the non-grammar list.
But while many pupils do well, there remain concerns that too many children continue to leave school without proper qualifications.
There has been a focus in recent years on Protestant male underachievement, although more Catholic pupils, particularly boys, struggle to make the grade.
In the last three school years for which statistics are available, more Catholic than Protestant boys did not achieve five or more 'good' GCSEs - and the gap is growing wider.
An assembly all-party group, headed by the DUP's Emma Pengelly, was set up to produce "key actions" on tackling poor standards.
