How the Success Index works
A transparent, reproducible way to compare every Australian school using only official data. No surveys, no paid placements, no black box.
Data sources
All figures come from the ACARA Data Access Program, the public release of the data behind the My School website. We use three files for 2025: School Profile (sector, type, year range, ICSEA, socio-educational quarters, staffing, enrolments, language background), School Location (coordinates, suburb, LGA, ABS statistical areas, electorates, remoteness) and School Profile 2008–2025 (historical enrolments and ICSEA for trends).
The current dataset covers 9,755 schools, of which 9,117 have an ICSEA value and receive a score. Data was retrieved on 7 October 2026. Our pipeline re-downloads and recomputes everything automatically each month.
The five components
Each school is compared only with schools of the same ACARA type (Primary, Secondary or Combined) across Australia. For each component we convert the raw value to a national percentile within that type, then combine the percentiles with these weights:
| Component | Weight | Raw measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-educational advantage (ICSEA) | 50% | ICSEA value | The strongest published predictor of a school's average academic results. |
| Students in the top advantage quarter | 15% | % of students in the top SEA quarter | Captures the depth of advantage beyond the ICSEA average. |
| Teacher resourcing (students per teacher) | 15% | FTE students ÷ FTE teachers (lower is better) | A proxy for attention per student; not the same as class size. |
| Enrolment growth vs local area (5 years) | 10% | % change in enrolments over 5 years | Sustained growth signals that families are choosing the school. |
| ICSEA trend (5 years) | 10% | Change in ICSEA over 5 years | Rising advantage suggests a strengthening community; falling suggests the reverse. |
Adjustments
- Small-school dampening. For schools under 300 students, the resourcing, demand and stability percentiles are shrunk toward the midpoint in proportion to size, because a handful of enrolments can swing these figures wildly. ICSEA components are not dampened.
- Missing data. If a component is unavailable it is dropped and the remaining weights are re-normalised. A school must have an ICSEA value to be scored at all.
- Clamping. Student–teacher ratios are clamped to 3–40, five-year growth to −50%…+100% and ICSEA change to ±80 points before percentiles are taken, to limit the effect of data anomalies.
Score, band and rank
The weighted percentile average is the Success Index, from 0 to 100. We then compute each school's percentile of the index within its type to assign a band: Top 5%, Top 10%, Top 25%, Top 50% or Lower 50%. Ranks are positions within the same type nationally, within the state, within the state and sector, and within the local government area.
Exclusions
- Special schools (ACARA type "Special") are profiled but never scored or ranked. Comparing them on advantage metrics would be meaningless and unfair.
- Schools with fewer than 80 students receive a score on their page but are excluded from ranking tables and have no rank position.
- Schools without an ICSEA value are profiled but not scored.
Limitations we want you to know about
- The index is dominated by ICSEA, which describes families, not teaching. A high score tells you a school serves an advantaged community with momentum; it does not tell you the school is well run.
- It contains no results data (NAPLAN, HSC, VCE, ATAR), no attendance data, no wellbeing data and no parent opinion.
- Combined (K–12) schools are compared with other combined schools, which mixes very different institutions.
- Coordinates are the school's main campus; multi-campus schools are shown at their head campus.
Senior secondary results
Where a state authority publishes results by school in a reusable format, we show them on the school profile and in separate results-based ranking lists; they are not folded into the Success Index, because they exist for only some states and only for schools with senior years. Currently: Victoria (VCAA Senior Secondary Completion and Achievement Information: median VCE study score, percentage of study scores of 40 or above, VCE completion and tertiary applications), matched to ACARA records by school name and locality. Queensland, Western Australian and NSW sources are being evaluated. Results reflect the cohort that sat the exams and are not adjusted for intake.
Roadmap
We intend to add, as licensed data becomes available: NAPLAN proficiency and gain, senior secondary outcomes by state, attendance rates, fees for non-government schools, and verified parent reviews. Each addition will be announced here with its weighting.
Reproducibility and corrections
The code that downloads ACARA data and computes the index is open and deterministic; the same input always produces the same output. If you believe a figure is wrong, please email us with the school's ACARA ID and we will investigate against the source file.
Attribution
School profile and location data © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2025, used under the ACARA Data Access Program terms. The Success Index is produced by Success Tutoring. Neither ACARA nor any school endorses this site. See our terms of use.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Success Index a measure of school quality?
No. It measures a school community's socio-educational advantage and momentum using published ACARA data. These correlate with academic results but do not measure teaching quality, wellbeing or culture.
Why isn't NAPLAN included?
ACARA publishes school-level NAPLAN results on My School but not as a bulk dataset, and My School's terms of use prohibit automated collection. We only use data available for every school in a consistent, licensed format.
Why are small schools not ranked?
Schools with fewer than 80 students have staffing ratios and growth figures that swing dramatically with a handful of enrolments. They receive a score on their profile page but are excluded from ranking tables and rank positions.
How often is it updated?
Automatically whenever ACARA publishes a new School Profile dataset, typically once a year, plus whenever we improve the methodology. The data year is shown on every page.
Can a school pay to improve its ranking?
No. Success Tutoring accepts no payment from schools, and the index is computed mechanically from ACARA data by open-source code.