VCE school rank discrepancy on trend page

Q:

I am interested in comparing the VCE trend results of a few schools in our local area. I've noticed Elwood College seems to have done well when I look at the VCE rankings for all schools for 2019 (the Better Education rank is 79). But when I click the trend button for them, it says that for 2019, the Better Education rank is 158. Why is there such a discrepancy? When looking at other local schools doing the same thing, when viewing all schools Better Education Ranking the ranking in the overall list is more similar to the ranking when looking at the trend view for one school - for example for McKinnon Secondary School the overall VCE 2019 ranking list has the Better Education rank as 59, and when you click trend view for them, the Better Education Rank for 2019 says 60 (still a discrepancy which I'm not sure why) but seems closer, only +1 out from the other view. I'm interested in viewing the trend for Elwood College, but wonder if there is something wrong in the trend calculation for that school which is causing such a large discrepancy between the viewing options. Any clarity would be greatly appreciated!

A:

There are two types of VCE school rankings: by Median VCE Study Score and by percentage of scores of 40 and over, which gives 79th and 153rd for Elwood College respectively. Different ranks may arise when the ranking criteria selected on top schools page are different from History / Trend / Compare School page. This is not really a discrepancy issue; rather they are different measurements of schools’ VCE results from different angles, serving different purposes or even giving you a bigger picture. Let’s find out why and how.

The ranking by percentage of scores of 40 plus is preferred by some top schools and parents while the ranking by Median VCE Score may suit all schools. In fact, ranking by median study score has to be used to compare all the schools because some schools don't have study scores above 40, in other words, History / Trend / Compare School page only shows the ranks by median score.

On top 100 schools' VCE results page (all sectors), user can choose the ranking by percentage of study scores of 40+ or median score. The default is the former one because some parents and top schools prefer this measure to compare the best schools, shifting the focus from medium to top. By default or if you choose the former method, the school is not shown because of the rank 153rd which missed the cut-off score for the list. So Elwood College only appears on this page for median score rank 79th. The same rank 79th should appear on both top schools and History / Trend / Compare School pages. When you see another school has a rank of 79th on the top schools page, you many think it’s a data error or contradiction. No, it’s not. Rather it’s caused by a mismatching ranking method chosen on the top schools page, with a valid reason as mentioned above.

Then how to reveal the school’s rank by percentage of study scores of 40 plus? With a paid subscription, this ranking is available for any school (not just the best schools) at VCE School Ranking of all schools.

Edited by user Monday, April 12, 2021 10:21:12 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Q: Could you please advise why the rank of Yarra Valley Grammar School is 43 and not 34,
https://bettereducation...._vce_school_ranking.aspx

​​​​​​​A: There are two ranking methods for VCE results: percentage of scores of 40+ and median study score.

For top 100 schools by VCE results, both methods are available as options. By default, the ranking method for top schools is percentage of scores of 40+. That’s why you see your school’s rank is 34 there – 34 is the rank by percentage of 40+.

As mentioned on Comparing schools by VCE results page,  there is only method – ranking by Median Score. Why? This is because not all schools have percentage of scores of 40+ while every school has a Median Score. That’s why you see your school’s rank is 43 there – 43 is the rank by Median Score.