“My School” Data Platform

AUSTRALIA CASE STUDY

1. My School Overview

My School is a website that provides access to data about

Australian schools

Source: www.myschool.edu.au; My School Factsheet; OECD (2012, p.35)

1 2 3Information about schools can be searched by name or location and

filtered by sector

Schools serving students with statistically similar

background can be compared

User interface places individual schools in the center of analysis, not

rankings

My School was developed to meet a range of objectives

Empowerment

of Schools &

Parents

Transparency &

Accountability

Better Funding Decisions

Evidence-Based

Policy

Improved

Learning

Outcomes

Three types of information are available on My School

Note: all the information is available in a yearly basis since 2008.Sources: www.myschool.edu.au; OECD (2012, p37); and Concerning Learning, 2014, p15)

School profile

Student enrollment

School staff

EducationalOutcomes

OperationalContextFinancial Data

School-level literacy and numeracy test scores

Students’ score gains

Vocational education completion rates

Recurrent income

Capital expenditures

Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage

2. Enabling Conditions

Building the Education

Revolution

My School was part of a broader set of education reforms

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Provide new and

refurbished infrastructure

to all eligible schools

NAPLAN &

My School

Computer equipment and

ICT for secondary

schools

Online curriculum

ICT teacher training

Broadband connectivity

National literacy and

numeracy testing

Accessibility of school-

level data online

EDUCATION REVOLUTION

Digital Education

Revolution

Aligned with focus on transparency and accountability

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Not-for-Profits:

Aust. Charities and

Not-for-Profits Com.

Education:

My School

Health:

My Hospitals

Trade:

Transparency in free

trade negotiations

Transparency &

Accountability

Agenda

My School was negotiated and implemented during a time of

strong Commonwealth-State relations

Government Leadership

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Federal

NSW

VIC

QLD

WA

SA

TAS

NT

ACT

Labor Liberal My School negotiation and implementation

My School benefited from a rich base of school data

Data Type Collecting Body Existed / New

NAPLAN ACARA1 New

School Profile States2 Existed

Direct SEA Schools1 New

Indirect SEA Census1 Existed

Indigenous % Census1 Existed

Remoteness Census1 Existed

School Attendance Schools3 Existed

Financials National Skills Standards Council Existed

School Survey Education Services Australia4 New

Disability Schools5 Existed

1: OECD (2012), 2: My School Fact Sheet (2013), 3: Factsheet (2015), 4: ACARA Website (2016), 5: Australian Government of Education Website (2016) 11

High levels of internet access and literacy facilitated My School

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The darker the blue, the faster the

connection

Source: Australian Government Department of Communications, Broadband Availability and Quality Report, December 2013

Internet Speeds Across Australia

Enabling factors & obstacles

Essential

Strong top-down political

leadership

▪ Julia Gillard

Productive

Commonwealth-State

relations

▪ Strong Labor presence

across levels of

government

Technology▪ Internet Infrastructure▪ Digital literacy▪ Data literacy

Helpful

Consistency with broad

policy strategy

▪ Education agenda

▪ Transparency agenda

Data Availability▪ Existing data sets▪ Mechanisms for

introducing new indicators

Obstacles

Changes in power

▪ Federal leadership spills

▪ Turnover of State and

Territory governments

Uneven Connectivity▪ Rural areas

3. Implementation Processes

The core legislative foundation for My School was built over time

Schools

Assistance

(Learning Together

through Choice

and Opportunity)

Act 2004 (Cth)

Melbourne

Declaration on

Education Goals

for Young

Australians

Australian

Curriculum,

Assessment,

Reporting

Authority Act 2008

(Cth)

Schools

Assistance Act

2008 (Cth)

Intergovernmental

Agreement on

Federal Financial

Relations

Schools

Assistance

Regulations 2009

(Cth)

Legislative and Governance Timeline

November 2004

November 2008

December2008

January2009

Australian

Education Act

2013 (Cth)

June2013

Australia’s intergovernmental structures facilitated My School’s

development

Commonwealth

States and Territories Council of Australian Governments

Education Council

ACARA

ACARA: My School’s information distribution mechanism

1. ACARA is an independent Australian Government authority with functions that include publishing nationally comparable data on all Australian schools.2. All schools who receive public funding must submit their data to ACARA. About 9,500 schools have their data on the portal currentlySources: Making my School Better, March 2015; My School FAQ;

ACARA

Public

My School2Parents & school

communityPublic officials

The Australian Curriculum,

Assessment and

Reporting Authority1

Australian GovernmentNon-government

school authorities

State and territory

authorities

Consensus and Capacity-Building Across Stakeholders

TeachersSchools &

School Leaders

Researchers &

CommentatorsPolicymakers

Parents

Students

Key components for success

Essential

Early engagement of vocal

stakeholders

▪ Opposition from teacher

unions was mitigated

▪ Surveys of parents to

understand needs

Centralized management

of education data

▪ ACARA

Centralized Funding

Structure

▪ Intergovernmental

Agreement on Federal

Financial Relations

▪ National Education

Agreement

▪ Schools Assistance Act

Helpful

Ongoing stakeholder

engagement

▪ New data sources, new

functionalities

Intergovernmental

Education Initiatives

▪ Melbourne Declaration

of Educational Goals for

Young Australians

▪ COAG Education

Council

Obstacles

Resistance against school

comparisons

▪ League tables

No federal administration

of State and Territory

schools

4. Early Evaluations of Impact

Who uses My School?

4 million ‘potential users’

1.45 million site visits*

0.79 million unique visitors*

0.66 million repeat visitors*

Used more in

independent

school sector

Used in similar

proportions across

8 jurisdictions

Used at peak by

principals and

parents of NAPLAN

students

Used less by larger

school systems

?

*indicates visitors for My School 2013Source: Cook (2015) p. 19, 25-26, 66

Beyond the general descriptors,

individual users are unable to be

identified.

My School web-site usage data

Traffic

statistics(per session)

▪ Aver. duration: 6.25 mins

▪ Average page views: 10.6

▪ Bounce rate: 35%

There is a wide spectrum of stakeholder views on My School

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-+

Support for My School

1. Farrow, (2014) p. 13. 2. Sarah Goss interview. 3. Peter Goss interview. 4. Cook, (2015) p.32. 5. Cook, (2015) p.18 6. Danielle Toon and Jennifer Ames

interviews. 7. Senate Inquiry, (2010), Danielle Toon and Jennifer Ames interviews. 8. ACARA, Bruton, p.4 9. Farrow, (2014) p. 13

Unions perceive

My School as

putting pressure on

teachers,

disadvantaged

schools

Some parents find

My School a useful

tool to compare

school performance

Site usage is low

Some parents and

teachers find My

School difficult to use

My School is limited

by the lack of school

choice

Parents were

strongly in favor of

being provided with

more information

related to school

performance

My School is valued

amongst

researchers and

commentators,

although many use

the underlying

data sets

School

leaders worry

about the misuse

of My School

data and need

more data to

drive decisions8Open data

advocates see it

as a closed

platform

Evaluations have had mixed results

Valuable Under-

utilized

UnclearImproving

5. Conclusions

Key components for success

Area Essential Helpful Potential Obstacles

Structural

Factors

• Centralized management

of educational data

• Centralized funding

structure

• Formal intergovernmental

structures setting shared

values, responsibilities

• Disconnect between

Federal and State level

approach to education

Technical

Factors

• Technical infrastructure

• Digital and data literacy

• Pre-existing datasets

• Mechanisms for adding

indicators

• Training where needed

• Lack of rural connectivity

Political Factors • Strong top-down political

leadership

• Strong intergovernmental

relations

• Consistency with broad

policy strategy

• Changes in power

structures

Community

Stakeholders

• Early engagement of

vocal stakeholders

• Ongoing engagement of

stakeholders

• Parent demand for the data

• Resistance against

school comparisons

• Lack of user friendliness

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Thank You

Investigations into Using Data to Improve Learning: My School Australia Case Studyhttps://www.brookings.edu/research/inves

tigations-to-using-data-to-improve-learning/