NAPLAN League table backlash in the ACT

MY SCHOOL Website

See the link below to a story in the Canberra Times about that paper creating a 'league table' of NAPLAN results from the ACT following the publishing of those results on the MY SCHOOL website and the criticism they receive from local teachers and the AEU. Interesting story.

An extract from the story:

The ACT Council of Parents & Citizens Associations also condemned league tables.

Its spokesman, Hugh Boulter, said: "Listing schools by their average NAPLAN scores and suggesting the top school is the best is a fiction.

"League tables only show where a school's students are, not how far they have come. They don't show how far the school has taken them.

"This hides the excellent work which schools do with disadvantaged students."

"To compare schools with very different student backgrounds is not valid.

"This fact is recognised by the makers of the My School  website, from which The Canberra Times gets this data. My School does not allow direct comparisons to be made between schools with different student backgrounds. The Canberra Times gets around this by laboriously compiling data from each school and then comparing it in this crude way.

"Clearly, comparing the student population at an exclusive private school with those at a school in a disadvantaged area on the one table is not valid," Mr Boulter said.The ACT Council of Parents & Citizens Associations also condemned league tables.

Its spokesman, Hugh Boulter, said: "Listing schools by their average NAPLAN scores and suggesting the top school is the best is a fiction.

"League tables only show where a school's students are, not how far they have come. They don't show how far the school has taken them.

"This hides the excellent work which schools do with disadvantaged students."

"To compare schools with very different student backgrounds is not valid.

"This fact is recognised by the makers of the My School  website, from which The Canberra Times gets this data. My School does not allow direct comparisons to be made between schools with different student backgrounds. The Canberra Times gets around this by laboriously compiling data from each school and then comparing it in this crude way.

"Clearly, comparing the student population at an exclusive private school with those at a school in a disadvantaged area on the one table is not valid," Mr Boulter said.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/a-league-of-league-table-opponents-attack-comparison-of-my-school-results-20150306-13x71h.html

Just for the record, apparently Canberra Girls Grammar won the 'competition'. below is a link to the story

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-girls-grammar-top-of-the-table-in-my-school-literacy-and-numeracy-results-20150306-13x63r.html

MY SCHOOL website

Below is a link to the My School website. You can look up Glen Park but because of our size their isn't much data there.

http://www.myschool.edu.au