The lack of disadvantaged students attending Perth Modern School has prompted calls for a shake-up of gifted and talented education in WA, with some experts worried gifted students are missing out.

Key points: Perth Modern pupils are more advantaged than students from WA private schools

Perth Modern pupils are more advantaged than students from WA private schools There are fears some gifted students are missing out because of their postcodes

There are fears some gifted students are missing out because of their postcodes There are now calls for a review of the entry test for selective public high schools

Data published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) shows just 2 per cent of the school's students are regarded as socio-educationally disadvantaged.

The figures also show Perth Modern's students are the second-most advantaged in the country — behind only Sydney Grammar School, which charges $37,000 in annual tuition fees.

Perth Modern's Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) value is 1,250 compared to the national average of 1,000.

A school's ISCEA value is determined by parents' occupation and level of education, along with the school's geographical location and the proportion of Indigenous students.

The ICSEA value of Perth Modern is higher than all of Perth's top private schools — followed by St Hilda's Anglican School, Christ Church Grammar School, John XXIII College, Scotch College and Hale School.

ACARA also sorts students into four categories of advantage, ranging from top to bottom.

In 2012, 67 per cent of Perth Modern's students were in the highest category of advantage. Following a change in data methodology, that figure now sits at 88 per cent.

None of the school's students are in the bottom quartile, with just 2 per cent deemed to be moderately disadvantaged.

According to the 2018 data, 0 per cent of Perth Modern's students were Indigenous.

Assess students on ability, not postcode, expert says

The figures have prompted calls for an overhaul of the highly competitive entry test, ASET (Academic Selective Entry Test) and earlier identification and support for gifted students state-wide.

Of the 2,563 students who applied to get into Perth Modern in 2020, 225 were offered places.

Students get into Perth Modern School by sitting a competitive academic entry test. ( ABC News: Jon Sambell )

Edith Cowan University education researcher Dr Eileen Slater said while it was understandable affluent families would want to access high-quality education, she was concerned genuinely gifted students were missing out because of their postcodes.

"The lack of representation of students from low, or even moderate-income families is a concern," she said.

"Research suggests that gifted children can be found in all cultures and all socio-economic backgrounds.

"The gifted programs in our secondary schools should reflect the same diversity."

Dr Slater said one of the reasons those programs do not reflect diversity is the education system waited too long to identify gifted children and provide appropriate educational intervention.

Eileen Slater is concerned gifted students are missing out on Perth Modern placements. ( ABC News: Rebecca Carmody )

"Lack of early identification affects our low socio-economic background students more than anyone one else," Dr Slater said.

"As students progress through school the learning gap increases between children who attend disadvantaged schools and those who attend advantaged schools, despite equivalent potential."

"The progress of all students should reflect their ability, not their postcode."

Dr Slater said coaching for ASET was undoubtedly helping affluent students win places at Perth Modern, but it was impossible to quantify how much of an impact the "booming industry" was having due to a lack of data.

She said in WA tutoring was being accessed as early as year 1, in preparation for the entry assessment in year 6.

"I have spoken with parents who see tutoring as a bargain," Dr Slater said.

"They may spend in excess of $20,000 on private tutoring for their child, but if the child wins a placement they have saved many thousands of dollars more in private school fees."

Dr Slater says some parents pay for tutoring from as early as year 1, which assists them when sitting Perth Modern's entry exam. ( Wikimedia Commons: Kollision )

Support for review of selective high schools admissions policy

The New South Wales Government recently announced modifications to its entry test for selective high schools to make it more "inclusive", less "coachable" and "fairer for everyone".

It wants to encourage more students from low socio-economic status, rural and remote and Indigenous backgrounds to apply, and shift perceptions of selective public schools being the domain of the privileged.

Dr Kate Burton from Gifted WA said the changes in NSW would go some way towards creating a level playing field.

"Gifted WA would support any move to make the selective entry test more accessible to students from lower-income families," Dr Burton said.

"Data suggests these children certainly face more difficulties accessing such opportunities.

"Similarly, NAPLAN scores tracking these children over time demonstrate a relative decline in their achievement levels, likely due to a number of factors.

"Anything that can be done to remove barriers to improve equity for these students, as is the case in NSW, can only be a good thing."

Gifted WA's Kate Burton supports the NSW policy shift on entry testing for selective schools. ( ABC News: Rebecca Carmody )

Calls for decentralisation of selective schools

The State Government has been reluctant to weigh in on the data, after backtracking on its 2017 election promise to move Perth Modern from Subiaco into the city, and rename it Perth Academic College.

Its intention was to send a message of inclusivity and free up the Subiaco site for another local intake school, but the community backlash was fierce.

Students and parents protested against the WA Government's plan to move Perth Modern from Subiaco to a high-rise building in the CBD. ( ABC News: Tom Wildie )

Education Minister Sue Ellery said while Perth Modern was the only fully academically selective secondary school, there were others that offered a range of Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) programs.

"At those schools the GATE program takes students from anywhere, they are not just limited to the local intake area of that school," Ms Ellery said.

"I have advised the Department of Education to map those programs and make sure for future planning they are spread across regional and metropolitan Perth."

The Education Department advised caution in the interpretation of ACARA's data.

"It's important to note the information on ACARA's website that an ICSEA value is not a rating of a school, nor does it measure or rate its staff performance, quality of teaching programs or nature of facilities," a spokeswoman for the department said.

"It is not a measure of student academic performance and does not measure school wealth."

An artist's impression of the now-scrapped plan for the Perth Academic College precinct in the Perth CBD. ( Supplied: WA Labor )

Professor Peter Merrotsy, from UWA's Graduate School of Education, said while Perth Modern provided a rich curriculum, allowing its high ability students to excel, the data suggested its school population was socio-economically privileged.

"The geographical placement of the school does not help here," he said.

"A student from the Perth hills area would have to travel to and from school one and a half hours each way.

"Also, I imagine that many students from lower socio-economic contexts would not feel at all comfortable in the Perth Mod milieu."

He suggested the creation of two new selective schools for the Perth area, to better cater for WA's high ability students from lower socio-economic areas.

"One could be centrally placed, with high level STEM provision and resources and with high level humanities provision including philosophy and Latin," Professor Merrotsy said.

"The other could be east, or south-east if transport could be improved."

"And perhaps we could hear more about the selective College of the Arts in Fremantle."

Editor's note July 31, 2019: An earlier version of the story suggested Perth Modern's rating of socio-educational advantage had continued to rise between 2013–18. Statistics show after a jump from 67 per cent following a change in methodology in 2013, the percentage of students in the top quarter of social-educational advantage has varied between 87 per cent and 89 per cent.