Report cards for schools only fair

as posted here

Educators have widely opposed the Federal Government's push to publish school performance information online at the end of this year because of fears it will stigmatise schools that perform poorly.

Teachers and principals have threatened to boycott the next round of national tests in May unless the Government passes laws to prevent the creation of so-called "league tables" that rank schools based on raw scores. They argue that "naming and shaming" struggling schools will damage students and school communities.

The new online report card will allow parents to compare all schools' performance in national literacy and numeracy tests, the percentage of students graduating from Year 12 and how well each school has progressed in lifting student performance.

Controversy on whether this should be available publicly has been red hot in the Eastern States, with NSW passing laws to fine newspapers for using the information to create league tables that compare schools.

But few from the Eastern States realise that WA has been leading the rest of the nation in giving parents access to school comparisons - and the sky has not yet fallen.

Each year, _The West Australian _publishes Year 12 academic results for private and public schools and ranks the top 50. It also prints the results of national literacy and numeracy tests from State schools. It is only fair that private schools should also have to reveal their performance.

Attempts by the teachers' union and others to prevent publication of school performance data is akin to censorship. A school can't address poor standards if it doesn't know whether they've fallen.

This newspaper has championed school transparency because public money goes into State and independent schools and the community has a right to know how well those schools are doing their job.

Critics also argue that revealing school comparisons will put too much emphasis on literacy and numeracy at the expense of other subjects.

But surely the main purpose of schooling is to ensure that children get a sound foundation in those skills. Every other part of the curriculum depends on those basics.

There are also complaints that teachers are "teaching to the test". But if setting compulsory tests requires students to learn some skills and then demonstrate them, then surely that is a positive outcome.

And if it forces schools to look at ways to improve their students' performance, even better.


as posted here