NEWS  Extra money won't fix schools
HENRY ERGAS   From:  The Australian April 16, 2012  16 comments

THE Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling is right: our schools should provide better and more equitable outcomes. Unfortunately, the funding model it recommends is unlikely to achieve those goals.
That is because the review's preferred funding model constrains choice rather than promoting it. But the key to addressing our schools' problems lies in empowering competition to lift all ships, including those of the truly disadvantaged…. more at link (if subscriber) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/extra-money-wont-fix-schools/story-fn7078da-1226327171478
 
COMMENTS ON THIS STORY
            Alec Baker of Queensland Posted at 2:46 PM Today Yes to all. But why does money thrown not work? Why can't low-SES students achieve highly? The answer: wishy-washy assessment in this country, which is getting worse. The Curriculum is a good guide. But the states still manage assessment. Where holistic criteria are used the states do poorly in interstate & overseas comparisons. * Qld has dropped Maths outcomes by ‘2 years of learning’ by end Yr 10 over the last 3 decades (ACER, 2009). Qld used to be a leader, now trails in science and maths over the last decades. * Qld Yr 11&12 maths & sciences are no longer attractive due to open-ended rich-tasks that require uni level research & writing skills; only rich kids with tutors can cope. * Tertiary bridging courses are needed to prepare students for engineering. * No statewide benchmark used in Qld for decades. *Qld teachers are banned from using number marks and instead give 'quality' letters. Now, workloads are huge so good teachers are quitting - a vicious cycle. NB: The Aust Curriculum (ACARA) has set good 'achievement stds' but has adopted Qld's idea to set 'sample work' as a way of assessing students' core-content abilities. This ad hoc approach will further dumb-down Aussie kids.