School results, rankings to go online

With the click of a mouse, parents will soon be able to see how their children, and
their schools, compare with others across the country.
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard says her state and territory counterparts
have agreed to publish literacy and numeracy test results, and information comparing
schools, on the internet from this year.
She won't say when in 2009 the information will go online, but it won't be until
after the next round of national student testing.
"When those tests are concluded and the data is available then we will be able to
put the two sets of data out for the first time in this new format," Ms Gillard told
reporters in Adelaide.
Labor has promised to publish students' test results and data comparing like schools
with like schools to boost transparency and performance.
Ms Gillard reiterated on Friday that didn't mean schools would simply be ranked
according to test results.
"There's no point in reporting on raw scores, or having simplistic league tables,"
she said.
"What is powerful is to be able to compare similar schools and to see how they're
going, and if one is going much better than the other, to share that best practice,
and if one needs a helping hand, to make sure that helping hand is there."
The Rudd government wanted parents to have reliable, clear information about what
was happening in schools "and be able to compare schools in similar circumstances",
the education minister said.
That means schools with similar student profiles and resources.
"For the first time parents, teachers and communities will have access to nationally
consistent information that details a school's results, its workforce, its financial
resources and the student population it serves," the country's education ministers
said in a joint communique after meeting in Adelaide.
The information will be published online by the newly established Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.
Education ministers also agreed to include arts in the next phase of national
curriculum development.
The interim national curriculum board initially developed curriculum for the core
subjects of English, mathematics, science and history.
Geography and languages have already been confirmed as forming part of the second
phase.