School Scope WA
Decision Index methodology
The Decision Index helps families compare schools using verified public data. Every factor comes from a named source — we never use demo, synthetic, or placeholder values. If data is missing, the factor is excluded rather than invented.
Decision Index (primary score)
A weighted composite of two pillars, renormalised when a pillar is unavailable:
- · School environment (55%) — staffing, stability, resourcing
- · Community context (45%) — area socio-educational profile
School environment pillar
Source: ACARA School Profile 2025 and 2008–2025 history.
Student–teacher ratio (40%)
Compared to like-schools (ICSEA ±50 peer group) when available, otherwise to all WA schools of the same type. Lower ratios score higher — more staff per student.
Staffing trend — 5 years (25%)
Whether the student–teacher ratio has improved, worsened, or stayed stable, from ACARA historical profiles.
Enrolment stability — 5 years (20%)
Moderate, stable enrolment change scores highest. Sharp decline suggests falling demand; rapid growth may indicate capacity pressure.
Teaching staff share (15%)
Share of FTE staff in teaching roles vs non-teaching, ranked against WA schools.
Community context pillar
Source: ACARA School Profile 2025 and 2008–2025 history.
ICSEA community advantage (80%)
Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage, converted to a WA percentile within the school's peer segment. This describes the community around the school — it is not a measure of teaching quality.
ICSEA trend — 5 years (20%)
Whether the local socio-educational profile is rising, stable, or declining.
Peer profile (display only)
LBOTE share, Indigenous enrolment, and top socio-educational quartile percentages are shown as descriptive cohort data with WA percentiles. They are not combined into the Decision Index — who your child learns with is information, not a league-table rank.
External community data (integrated)
Housing & economic resources (25% of community pillar)
ABS SEIFA 2021 Index of Economic Resources (IER) at postcode (POA) level, falling back to LGA when postcode is unmatched. Higher IER percentile = greater economic resources in the area. This is a Census-based proxy — not live median house prices.
Area safety (20% of community pillar)
WA Police Force Crime Statistics 2024-25 — total selected offences against person or property, rate per 100,000 people, by police district. Schools are matched to a district using official WA Police boundaries (data.wa.gov.au WAPOL-002). District-level only — not suburb-specific.
Not yet integrated
Median house price from ABS Census will be added when joined at postcode level. Until then, no placeholder values are shown.
What does not go in
- · NAPLAN results or My School rankings
- · Parent reviews or Google ratings (shown separately when real)
- · Private enrolment or fee data
- · Subjective “prestige” or marketing lists
- · Synthetic, estimated, or demo data of any kind
Legacy Swan Score
ICSEA (70%) + LBOTE (30%) remains available for filtering. LBOTE is inverted so lower LBOTE shares score higher — a legacy composite we are moving away from in favour of the peer profile display and Decision Index pillars.
Data sources
- · ACARA School Profile 2025 — ICSEA, enrolments, staff, LBOTE, quartiles
- · ACARA School Profile 2008–2025 — trends for ICSEA, ratios, enrolments
- · ACARA School Location 2025 — remoteness, LGA, coordinates
- · WA Dept of Education SLIP — WA school codes and regions
- · ABS SEIFA 2021 — IER at postcode (POA) and LGA for housing context
- · WA Police Force Crime Statistics 2024-25 — district offence rates
- · data.wa.gov.au WAPOL-002 — police district boundary geo joins
Found a data error? Use the feedback button on any page or email hello@swanlabs.com.au.