This report argues that maximising every student’s learning growth requires a set of shifts across Australian education systems, and a sustained, long-term and coordinated improvement effort, based on shared ambition, action and accountability.

The main purpose of this background paper is to provide additional information on the Grattan Institute’s statistical analysis of completion of bachelor degrees at public universities.

The second Gonski report has been presented to the federal government, and will soon to be made public. Will it back innovative ideas to improve schools — and if it does, will it get the support it needs?

This research shows Mission Australia’s Flexible Learning Options (FLO) program in South Australia not only successfully re-engages hundreds of disadvantaged high school students with learning, but also has a significant transformative and potentially life-saving impact on young people who are facing a range of complex issues.

It is widely understood that Australia’s school performance (as measured by international test scores) has been falling. What’s less understood is that this headline buries a stark, unpalatable fact: our international test results show that kids at the bottom of the performance distribution are falling faster and further than kids at the top.