Empower principals to drive strategies to improve student performance TWENTY years ago Victoria introduced a policy that has resonated globally. Government schools would get more control over their destiny. As they came to differ from each other in their practices and in their quality, parents would have more school choice. Good information was vital, which the federal government acknowledged when it introduced My School in 2010. The intention was to introduce market principles, successful in so many other areas of the economy, into school education. It was a bold experiment that has produced good results, especially in giving schools more autonomy. But in terms of lifting student performance, its express goal, it has not had the impact once hoped. Victoria still performs at about the same level as NSW, which remained highly centralised until recently.