Transparency and accountability: more and better information for parents

My School transformed the public debate about the quality of school education when it was introduced by the Government in 2010. The new accountability and transparency reforms in the National Plan for School Improvement will build on My School to provide an unprecedented level of information to parents, schools and the broader community, allowing us all to track student outcomes and school performance.

Evidence-based improvement

School improvement will be informed by national data collections, accountability, analysis and research capability. This will improve the dissemination of school improvement research, resulting in more informed policy development and enabling improvement in schools across the country.

Charting progress against the 2025 targets and the National Plan for School Improvement

Every State and Territory will develop arrangements to chart growth against the 2025 targets and the National Plan for School Improvement to allow early action to be taken to improve performance if required. Progress will be reported in an annual State of Our Schools report to COAG.

A National Research Plan for school education

Governments will work together to share and leverage off individual research efforts. This will ensure that performance data collected across Australia is analysed and that future policy is informed by a real understanding of what works in practice.

Further enhancements to My School

There will be further enhancements to My School, including publication of school level data on needs-based funding.

Barry is a parent of two school aged children. Under the National Plan for School Improvement Barry will have more information about the performance of his children's school than ever before.

Barry will be able to access information on his children's school from My School including details about teachers' level of expertise, number of specialist teachers and staff attendance and turnover.

Barry will be able to consider the results of parent, teacher and student opinion surveys and Year 12 attainment rates, as well as the languages taught at the school. He will also have access to the school's School Improvement Plan.

An annual State of Our Schools report will enable Barry to consider the effectiveness and performance of schools across his state and the country. This report will give Barry and other parents across Australia valuable insight into the ways the National Plan for School Improvement is being implemented and is improving outcomes for all students, particularly those who face the most disadvantage.