NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ955989
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 14
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1071-4413
EISSN: N/A
My School, Education, and Cultures of Rating and Ranking
Redden, Guy; Low, Remy
Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, v34 n1-2 p35-48 2012
The National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)--is conducted through standardized tests that are administered to all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. It was implemented in 2008 by the same Labor government that introduced My School (www.myschool.edu.au). Enjoying bipartisan political support and popular with the public (though less so with educators), My School crashed continually on its launch day. Against this backdrop of the site's newness and popularity, the authors seek to question the prevailing view that My School is a mirror held up to reality: a mirror that reflects school performance and allows for improvement of educational processes as a result. The authors argue that the site itself is legitimated through interrelated but extremely light-touch appeals to transparency, accountability, and quality of the kind that Gillard (2009) used in a speech to the Brookings Institution. In this article, the authors aim to raise critical questions about the appropriateness of My School and NAPLAN by arguing that they arise more from a framework of normalized neoliberal assumptions that model public goods on market transactions, than from any evidence that they actually provide mechanisms to foster better education. Then, they outline how standardized testing data and its presentation are related to a specific culture of reform before advancing to a discussion of some of the issues raised by the questionable proposition that My School accurately represents school performance and acts to enhance the public good. (Contains 1 figure.)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Grade 3; Grade 5; Grade 7; Grade 9
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A