The Ministry of Education will be making the following changes to broaden the school ranking system, so as to support and encourage schools in their efforts to provide an all-round education:

a.  Shift from ranking on exact academic scores, to banding schools with similar academic performance. For example, instead of ranking the top 50 Secondary Schools individually based on the average 'O' level aggregate of their Special/Express students, these schools will be divided into about 12 bands;

b.  Expand the number of domains under which schools' achievements are recognised, so as to provide a broader picture of schools' performance in various academic and non-academic domains. School Achievement Tables, which replace ranking lists, will provide this broader picture in a simple, digestible form. This will be done by refining the performance indicators used by MOE under its existing Masterplan of Awards, and introducing new indicators to recognise schools' efforts to provide a holistic education; and

c.  Introduce a web-based interactive system to allow parents and students to generate comparative lists of schools based on the features they consider important. For example, this will allow parents to identify schools that are strong in the arts and sports, or in academic value-added. Detailed individual profiles ("School Pics") will also be provided for each and every school.

These changes were announced by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ag Minister for Education, at the Committee of Supply Debate 2004.

The revised ranking system encourages schools to deliver a holistic education and a broad range of experiences to their students. It also provides parents and students with more complete information on the key dimensions of a school's performance, which they find useful.

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