National league tables : how can we influence the debate?

Authors

John Nelson, Catholic Education Office of Western Australia

Abstract

The author argues that the questions surrounding national 'league tables' is not whether there will be national disclosure of achievement data but what sort of data might be more relevant. The data provided by the Commonwealth government is likely to be quite narrow. He argues that the notion of a value-added measure needs to be pursued by schools so that the performance of their students is a comparison of what was achieved with what could have been expected to be achieved. He proposes two such measures: standardised tests and socioeconomic indicators. The article provides an example of a methodology developed by the Catholic Education Office of WA for estimating the performance levels a school ought to achieve in Year 12 university entrance. [Author abstract, ed]

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