By Anna Patty and Harriet Alexander
Selective high schools might have dominated the HSC achievement list yesterday, but state government employees have their own list of high performers that they won't share with the public.
Staff at the NSW Department of Education and Government ministers have sent their children to schools that internal data shows are outstanding at raising student performances.
Comprehensive high schools such as Strathfield Girls, Homebush Boys and Burwood Girls are among those known to improve the performance of students when year 10 and HSC results are compared.
The Herald knows of at least four government employees, including a staff member of the Minister for Education, Carmel Tebbutt, who have sent children to Burwood Girls High School.
Critics of the Government's restrictive approach to school performance information argue the "value-adding data" should be shared with the public.
Professor Geoff Riordan, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Technology, Sydney, said that although the information was complex and vulnerable to fluctuation, efforts should be made to make some of it available.
"Government policy, both state and federal, is designed to encourage school choice, but with the absence of this vital information, it is very difficult for parents," he said.
The Government outlawed the public release of the Universities Admissions Index after a high school in Sydney's west was publicly pilloried as the worst performer a decade ago.
The NSW Teachers Federation has long argued that the ranking of schools can be particularly damaging to the confidence of children and the reputation of schools and teachers, particularly in low socio-economic areas.
"The data is crude and simplistic and doesn't recognise all aspects of a school's contribution to a child's life," its president, Maree O'Halloran, said.
After releasing data on this year's HSC, Ms Tebbutt and the president of the NSW Board of Studies, Gordon Stanley, described the UAI as a narrow measure of performance. Professor Stanley said that a better measure was value-added data which measured the improvement of student results in year 10 compared with year 12.
Professor George Cooney, from Macquarie University, who was instrumental in devising the UAI, said league tables were unhelpful and it was more valuable for parents to study the annual reports of schools in their area.
"I see that as more useful than publishing value-added data in the paper," he said. "If you had tables using value-adding data, the selectives wouldn't be there."
That is because selective schools start with bright students, he argued.
Mia Kumar, the principal at Burwood Girls High School, said value-adding data was more relevant for teachers than parents. The school's performance was clear to see without the publication of such data.
"We had three students in the top all-rounders this year, but when you look at our results, our school is above the state average in all courses except three," Ms Kumar said. "And in some cases well above the state average."