My School: what difference does it make?
This study investigates the impact of the My School website on parents and schools.
Family and school responses to school performance information in My School
This Australian Research Council Life Course Centre (LCC) funded project aims to provide evidence on family and school responses to the My School website, focusing particularly on the differences in responses.
Launched in 2010, My School represented a new era of school accountability, providing Australian parents with easy access to readily comparable information on more than 10,000 schools.
In theory, the public release of information on school performance was intended to unlock the benefits of competition and lift school performance.
But, in practice, this is only true if there is at least a threat that families respond by using the information on the website when choosing schools, and also only if schools have the capacity to respond to, and improve, their results.
Impact
This study will provide evidence on family and school responses to My School, focusing particularly on the differences in response, in terms of school moves, across measures of school and regional socio-economic (dis)advantage.
Investigators
Dr Gigi Foster, Department of Economics, University of New South Wales.
Other LCC projects