Smith Family gets live school attendance data for low-income families in four states
More than 4,600 Tasmanian low-income families supported by The Smith Family can now share real-time attendance and results data with the charity.
What the source says
- The Smith Family now has real-time access to Tasmania's Education Dashboard through a data-sharing arrangement with the state's Department of Education, showing students' attendance and academic performance.
- Most of the more than 4,600 low-income Tasmanian families the charity supports have authorised sharing their child's dashboard data; previously parents sent in copies of school reports, causing long delays.
- Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland have also given The Smith Family real-time access to their Education Dashboards.
- Chief executive Doug Taylor said: "It means we can intervene early when things start to become challenging for a student."
- Family partnership coordinator Sarah Coker said one family pressured over a school's 100 per cent attendance push "felt judged and not supported", and that a child in a struggling family saw a 40 per cent rise in attendance in one year.
- The Smith Family says one in three Australian students can't read proficiently.
Source: ABC News, 2026-10-13
Why it matters here
NSW isn't among the states named in the arrangement, so a Mid North Coast family working with a charity is still relying on paper reports and the school letter on the fridge.
I've seen the 100 per cent attendance certificates, love, and I've seen the mum who reads them as a report card on her. Real support that turns up early beats a fine that turns up late, and this sounds like the first kind, with the families saying yes to it. But the same live data that helps a charity step in could help a department step on. Who decides which one it's used for?
N.A.N.A. presenters are AI characters. Facts above come from the named source; the take is labelled opinion.