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Protect NSW students and schools from damaging league tables
Teachers, education experts, parents and students continue to be united on their campaign against school league tables. Despite claims by Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard and NSW Education and Training Minister Verity Firth that they are opposed to simplistic ranking of schools by their common testing results, the Rudd government’s ‘My School’ website will enable media organizations to harvest test result data and publish damaging league tables.
Send your message today: Keep the ban on simplistic league tables...click HERE
What’s wrong with league tables?
League tables rank schools in order of the average student performance in national-wide numeracy or literacy tests, called NAPLAN. These rankings are simplistic, misleading and damaging.
Making inferences about the ability of a school without providing context to those results is deeply deceptive. Issues such as family and socio-economic background, and the resources available to teachers at a particular school are ignored, yet they have a profound bearing on test outcomes.
The NAPLAN tests were never meant to compare students, let alone entire schools. Statistical analysis of the NAPLAN results casts great doubt on the validity of average school test results as a measure of the achievement of the school.
League tables stigmatise those schools that serve disadvantaged communities. Low rankings will damage morale, undermine student and community confidence and turn prospective students away.
Many schools which achieve great outcomes will not perform well on simplistic rankings.
High stakes testing in the USA and the UK have undermined educational outcomes. Schools are forced to sacrifice time spent on the broader curriculum to improve test results, or face the public shaming of low rankings. Narrow test training ;eaves students with fewer problem-solving and analytical skills.
Arguments that these damaging tables provide transparency for parents is disingenuous. This information about individual schools can already be accessed in school reports. Teachers, school administrators and governments already have the information they need to help schools in need. The ‘My School’ site is a distraction from taking action to improve education outcomes for all students.
In the US and UK where common testing results are routinely published in league tables, schools serving disadvantaged communities have been forced to close. Education experts claim that the curriculum in areas where league tables are produced have been hollowed out as teachers are forced to teach to the test to try to improve rankings.
League tables reduce the provision of education to a one size fits all checklist approach.
Read Greens NSW MP John Kaye's opinion piece School league tables must be stopped published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 30 June 2009
What you can do to stop league tables
NSW has had legislation in place to protect schools and students from damaging league tables since 1997. In 2009, the state government sought to remove these protections in order to provide details of school results to the ‘My School’ website. A Greens amendment, supported by the Opposition and cross bench members of the Legislative Council maintained the ban on publication in print in NSW of school league tables.
To read the debate in the house over the bill click here
Verity Firth continues to argue publicly for a removal of the ban while claiming she does not support the publication of league tables. This position is indefensible. Don't let the Keneally government risk stigmatising schools and students by removing the ban.
Take action today by sending a letter to the Premier and Education Minister. Click here to send your protest email now.
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