What is Happening with NAPLAN in Your School?

Posted on Thursday April 17, 2014

The 2014 NAPLAN tests are only four weeks away. Tell us your stories and information about the effects of NAPLAN in your school. >> Read on...

Your Child Does Not Have to Do NAPLAN

Posted on Wednesday April 16, 2014

A flyer for parents about the right to withdraw their child from the NAPLAN tests. >> Read on...

Pyne’s School Autonomy Myth

Posted on Friday April 11, 2014

A review of the research evidence on school autonomy contradicts the claims by Christopher Pyne that more school autonomy over decisions on budgeting and staffing lifts student achievement. It shows that school autonomy in these areas has little to no effect on student results. >> Read on...

Why We Opted Our Child Out of State Testing

Posted on Monday April 7, 2014

An opt-out movement against standardised testing has exploded in the United States in the last few months. Here a New York parent explains her family’s decision to opt out of the New York state tests. >> Read on...

Questioning The Role of Philanthropy in Education

Posted on Friday April 4, 2014

Philanthropic foundations have enormous influence over education policy in the United States. They have invested billions of dollars in market-based policies such as charter schools, performance pay and vouchers. >> Read on...

Shorten Re-affirms Labor’s Commitment to the Full Gonski

Posted on Tuesday April 1, 2014

Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, has given an unequivocal commitment to the final two years of Gonski funding. This shifts the microscope to the May Budget to see whether the Coalition Government supports an increase in school funding into the fifth year of the Gonski plan.< >> Read on...

Is This the End of Gonksi?

Posted on Monday March 31, 2014

There appears to be a new unity ticket between Labor and the Coalition on the Gonski school funding. Labor is having second thoughts about supporting the full Gonski. >> Read on...

OECD Contradicts Pyne’s Claim on School Autonomy Success

Posted on Friday March 28, 2014

Christopher Pyne’s claim about the success of school autonomy in increasing student achievement has been contradicted again by another OECD report. >> Read on...

Gonksi Panel Member Slams Labor’s Ineptitude on Gonski Funding

Posted on Tuesday March 25, 2014

Gonski panel member, Ken Boston, has slammed the Labor Party for failing on the politics of delivering the full Gonski school funding model. >> Read on...

OECD Report Says High Participation in Private Tutoring in Korea is Pernicious

Posted on Friday March 21, 2014

Korea has the highest participation rate in after-school tutoring in the world. A new OECD report says its impact is pernicious. It is exacerbating social inequality, narrowing education and harming the all round development of children. >> Read on...

Australia Fails to Achieve Universal Pre-school Target

Posted on Tuesday March 18, 2014

New figures show that Australia has dramatically failed to achieve its target of universal pre-school education by 2013. >> Read on...

Another Study Shows that School Autonomy Does Not Increase Student Achievement

Posted on Sunday March 16, 2014

An evaluation of a school autonomy program in Chicago shows that increased autonomy for school principals over budgets and other school operations had no impact on reading and mathematics achievement. >> Read on...

Federal Officials Confirm the Coalition’s Sabotage of Gonski

Posted on Wednesday March 12, 2014

At Senate Estimates hearings last month officials from the Federal Department of Education confirmed the Government’s sabotage of the Gonski funding model. >> Read on...

A Cautionary Tale from New York on High Stakes Testing

Posted on Monday March 10, 2014

A lecture tour by a US professor of education provides a cautionary tale about high stakes testing and control of education policy in New York State by entrepreneurs and corporations. >> Read on...

Greater Funding Equity Increases Student Results

Posted on Saturday March 8, 2014

New research shows that greater equity in school funding increases student outcomes. >> Read on...

Public Schools in the Top Performing Countries Have Little Autonomy in Budgeting and Staffing

Posted on Monday March 3, 2014

An OECD report on PISA 2012 shows that public schools in the top performing countries generally have little autonomy in budgeting and staffing but considerable autonomy over curriculum and assessment. >> Read on...

Pyne’s Opportunistic Support of States’ Rights Has Sabotaged Gonski

Posted on Tuesday February 25, 2014

Christopher Pyne has opportunistically grasped states’ rights to sabotage the Gonski funding plan by not requiring state governments to increase education funding. Yet, the Government is keeping conditions attached to other specific purpose payments to the states. >> Read on...

The Prime Minister Should Fully Implement Gonksi to Improve Indigenous Education

Posted on Wednesday February 19, 2014

If the Prime Minister is serious about his “passionate” commitment to improving Indigenous education, he should stop the sabotage of the Gonksi funding model and implement it in full. >> Read on...

Northern Territory Review of Indigenous Education

Posted on Saturday February 15, 2014

Margaret Clark reviews the Draft Report of the Independent Review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory. >> Read on...

Comparing East Asia and Australia

Posted on Monday February 10, 2014

East Asian success in education shows that it is possible to lift results for disadvantaged students but Australia should avoid emulating the East Asian obsession with cramming and the social cost it incurs. >> Read on...

More Untruths by Pyne on Independent Public Schools

Posted on Friday February 7, 2014

The Federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, is either incapable of getting his facts straight or he is deliberately misleading the public about his plan for independent public schools. >> Read on...

More Deceit by Pyne on Independent Public Schools

Posted on Thursday February 6, 2014

Christopher Pyne’s deceit about the evidence on the effect of independent public schools on student achievement has been further exposed. >> Read on...

Pyne Misleads the Public on School Autonomy Yet Again

Posted on Monday February 3, 2014

Christopher Pyne has misled the public yet again about the facts on the effects of school autonomy. The evidence he cites is highly selective and misleading and completely ignores the latest evidence from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). >> Read on...

ACT Chamber of Commerce Needs Education

Posted on Saturday February 1, 2014

In calling for expenditure on ACT government schools to be cut to the level of NSW and Victoria, the Chamber of Commerce has failed to understand the reasons for higher expenditure in the ACT. >> Read on...

Disadvantaged Schools Have Fewer Educational Resources than Advantaged Schools

Posted on Tuesday January 28, 2014

The gaps in educational resources between disadvantaged and advantaged schools in Australia is amongst the largest of all the 65 countries participating in the OECD’s Programme for International Asssessment (PISA). >> Read on...

Islamic School Refused Registration

Posted on Friday January 24, 2014

The ACT Minister for Education has refused to register a proposed new Islamic School after a damning review shows that it would not be financially viable and failed to meet the educational and student safety requirements of the ACT Education Act. >> Read on...

The Coalition Has Sabotaged Gonksi

Posted on Tuesday January 21, 2014

The Coalition has sabotaged the Gonksi funding plan. It has guaranteed funding increases for private schools but not for government schools. >> Read on...

Kevin Donnelly - The "Cory Bernadi" of Education Policy

Posted on Sunday January 19, 2014

Kevin Donnelly uses bad science to link educational inequalities in Australia to genetic differences in cognitive ability and justify the continuation of disadvantage and social inequality in education. >> Read on...

The Folly of ACT School Closures Revealed

Posted on Tuesday January 14, 2014

Education Minister Joy Burch has exposed the folly of the 2006 school closures as an expensive and short-sighted mistake. The ACT Government has spent millions in expanding capacity in areas where schools were closed. >> Read on...

Media Release: Call For Senate Inquiry into the National Curriculum

Posted on Monday January 13, 2014

SOS has called on ALP and Green Senators to establish a Senate inquiry into the national curriculum. SOS believes this will provide a better chance for a thorough and balanced review than one conducted by partisan critics. >> Read on...

More