Labor's school website earns international tick of approval

LABOR'S MySchool website has been held up internationally as a leading example of reform to increase schools' accountability.

LABOR'S MySchool website has been held up internationally as a leading example of reform to increase the public accountability of schools.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will today release a report on the establishment of MySchool and the lessons for other nations from its implementation.

It praises the federal government for the strength of its commitment in pursuing the reform in the face of staunch opposition, particularly from the unions, and securing the agreement of eight different state and territory governments.

As a result of MySchool, the report says, the broader community is in the same position as education officials in having access to nationally reported information.

"The area of school accountability is notable for arousing strong opinions and producing strongly contested empirical findings from scientific work on what makes a difference to school outcomes," the report says.

"There is no way to avoid this in staking out a policy reform that has as its purpose the publication of sensitive information about schools.

"This case study shows that difficult policy problems can be solved by marshalling the evidence, articulating a clear case for policy change, investing resources in improved measurement to provide high-quality comparable data, understanding the broader public interest in better information, and providing strong political leadership to overcome what can be formidable opposition."

MySchool was launched in January 2010 and is updated every year with information on the nation's 9500 schools, including results in national literacy and numeracy tests.

The report says the value of commissioning advice from experts in the field "cannot be overestimated" in developing reforms.

It also commended the decision to invest responsibility for MySchool in an independent body, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.

The report was produced in conjunction with the federal Education Department, but was instigated by the OECD, which had been monitoring MySchool as part of its examination of education systems in its member countries.