PRIVATE schools produce better results than government schools, even after differences in student background are taken into account, according to an analysis of data from the My School website.
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But the research, published in the latest edition of The Australian Economic Review, does not consider the influence a school's resources has on outcomes, because it is based on data from the first version of the website, which was published last year. Information on the funding available to each school was first collected for the second iteration of the site, published in March this year.
Paul Miller and Derby Voon of Western Australia's Curtin University examined year 3 grammar scores from national literacy tests, and found that independent schools produced average scores 33 points higher than those of government schools. Average scores in Catholic schools were 25 points higher than those in government schools.
Only about half of these differences could be attributed to differences in student background.
The finding is at odds with a 2010 analysis of results from international tests produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research. That report concluded that, once adjustments were made for variations in socio-economic background, there was no significant difference in average scores between independent, Catholic and government schools.
The research comes as schools await the outcome of a funding review. A panel is expected to deliver its report to School Education Minister Peter Garrett before Christmas.
