The government’s new My School website went live this morning — and promptly fell down like the roof of a 20-year-old portable classroom. The site has been in and out all morning, presumably struggling under the weight of Australian parents’ collective hopes and dreams.

But that hasn’t stopped the pundits weighing in, as papers around the country gives their two cents:

The Australian

Samantha Maiden, Gillard delivers for parents on schools transparency

… parents are better off this morning as a result of one of the more substantial reforms of the Rudd government’s first term of office.

Justine Ferrari, Site rubs raw scores of discontent

The transparency is more like a one-way mirror than a window: the data can be examined only in one way, and that’s their way.

The Age

Barry McGaw, My School site brings fair comparisons

The My School website provides the public and the profession with better information than has been available before and information that can be used productively to improve Australia’s schools.

Hutch Ranck, League tables will improve the education system

… if we have a minority, even a small minority, who are not doing their job as well as they could be, then this impacts on the learning of many students.

Sydney Morning Herald

Robyn Ewing, A dangerous recipe for dumbing down our curriculum

Assuming My School will lift the performance of underachieving schools and teachers is not logical.

Anna Patty, High-stakes testing for easy gain

Now parents around the country will start to get a sense of what has been secret information.

Daily Telegraph

Editorial, My School’s bright future ahead

An important point to make, considering the alarm that this proposal has historically generated, is that parents have always compared schools.

Herald Sun

Julia Gillard, My School website will help, not hinder

We either provide parents with more information or we don’t. We either help schools that need it or we don’t.

Courier Mail

Jane Fynes-Clinton, Website a victory for education

This is not a league table. Blind Freddy can see that. Those who contend it is are fear-mongering.

ABC

Kevin Donnelly, Education revolution: ill-conceived and incomplete

Naming and shaming schools by ranking them in terms of performance is only one side of the equation, equally as vital is the need for schools to free themselves from an inflexible, centralised, one-size-fits all, bureaucratic system.

Have you been able to log on? What do you think? Have your say below.