My School Website
The Australian Government My School website was launched yesterday. I was keen to get online and see what all the fuss was about.
The Government has created the website as a tool for parents to compare schools that are deemed to be statistically similar. Initially I was skeptical and concerned and thought about the issues I have with the site from a teacher's point of view. However, I am currently a full time parent so that is the hat I am adopting today.
As a parent, I do find the website helpful. The tables are easy to follow and allow you to compare the local schools in your area. Most parents that I speak to consider their child's educational options and needs from a very young age. Some people have placed their child's name on waiting lessons before they can even write an actual birth date. Steve and I are completely confused which of the local schools would be best for our daughters, we are open to all options whether private, Catholic or public. We simply want to send our daughters to a 'good' school. At least now we can look at basic Naplan results to help us with our decision.
I don't think the media gives enough credit to parents. Parents surely realise this is only one tool and over time the site will provide more information, for instance the progress of cohorts of children as they progress through the years. I think this could be a step in the right direction for National testing and curriculum development.
5 comments:
I still haven't had a chance to have a look...heard the site crashed today so there was obviously a lot of interest. I think from a parent's perspective it is very useful...we, as parents, just need to keep the data in perspective. Not sure that all parents can/will do that...look at how many still don't understand the current grading system...
Hopefully, the whole debate will lead to better education for all children!
I'm all for the tests being administered by neutral people too. If a particular school is under too much pressure to improve/maintain results, could lead to biased administering of the tests (? maybe ?)
Great points Cathy, especially with the last point on neutral people administrating the test. Already the SMH has released the 'ranking' of NSW schools. I don't think schools should be ranked liked that but of course it was bound to happen! I think the site is interesting and hopefully the data is used to improved the education of our little ones.
I think the site will also be more useful once we have data from a number of consecutive years...some schools which received a pink/red colour may have done so because of a particularly challenged cohort - and that won't be seen until they again sit the test.
According to weekend paper many parents have pulled their kids out of schools and enrolled them in others due to the data on the site. Some people just look at things in black and white...people are ranking schools which wasn't the point of the site...
having said that, from a parent's point of view, I probably wouldn't feel too comfortable if I logged on to see results of my child's school and they were below average...
I had a feeling people would be changing schools etc. I was at a party yesterday and a high school teacher was talking about it. I think it helps that we are both parents and teachers. My local catholic school results are a lot higher then the other schools in the area, it will be interesting to see if in a few years it will be hard to get into. You're right about the cohorts, people could be moving their kids and the results are not even consistent through the years. I am looking forward to seeing how the year 3s perform in year 5 etc
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