Creating more grammar schools is likely to widen the attainment gap between rich and poor children, and probably will not raise overall educational standards, a report says.
The Education Policy Institute study said an expansion of grammar schools in areas which already have a large representation of selective schools is likely to lead to "small but growing attainment losses" for those not attending selective schools.
This would be greatest among poor children, who are already under-represented at grammar schools, the EPI said.
The gap between children on free school meals (FSM) attaining five A*-C GCSEs, including English and maths, and other children is 6% wider in selective areas than in non-selective areas, the study found.
FSM pupils in selective areas who do not attend grammars perform worse than the national average.
But the EPI found that, at a national level, there did not appear to be a significant attainment penalty from not attending a grammar school.
David Laws, EPI chairman and former Liberal Democrat schools minister, said: "It is clear from our analysis that creating additional grammar schools is unlikely to lead to either a significant improvement in overall education standards or an increase in social mobility.
"Indeed, without far more success in getting poor children into grammar schools, the total attainment gaps between poor children and richer children could well increase."
Mr Laws added: "Our analysis shows that there is a risk that in those areas with large numbers of selective places, more grammar schools will, on average, reduce the results achieved by poorer children."
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, urged the Prime Minister Theresa May to abandon her plans to overturn the existing ban on allowing new grammar schools to open in the wake of the report.
She said: "This report could not be more timely, and its conclusions could not be more devastating for the Government - that there is no evidence that overall educational standards in England would be improved by creating additional grammar schools.
"Theresa May has embarked on a disastrous policy of re-introducing grammar schools without a shred of evidence that it will achieve her laudable aim to increase social mobility."
A Department for Education spokesman said that it would ensure new selective schools prioritise the admission of pupils from lower income households or support other local pupils in non-selective schools to help raise standards.
"We know grammar schools provide a good education for disadvantaged pupils, helping to all but eliminate the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, and we want more pupils from lower income backgrounds to benefit from that."
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