Parents can see how their child’s school compares with others across Courier Country.
Scottish Schools Online has just released this summer’s exam data for every state secondary school.
At local authority level in Courier country, the figures show little change on last year, with pupils in Perth and Kinross above the national average and those in Angus, Dundee and Fife below.
There are significant variations between individual schools, but a degree of caution needs to be used interpreting the figures.
Schools with catchments that include areas with high levels of unemployment and deprivation tend not to do as well as schools whose pupils come mainly from well-off homes.
Changes in each school’s results from will also be affected by the fact a different group of pupils is sitting the exams.
Staff changes as experienced teachers retire can also have an impact.
At Standard Grade we looked at how pupils performed in passing five or more exams at credit level.
Kinross High topped the list of 45 schools in Tayside and Fife with 50% of its S4 roll achieving that target, closely followed by Grove Academy in Dundee on 49% and Breadalbane Academy in Aberfeldy on 48%.
The top school in Fife was Balwearie High in Kirkcaldy on 44% and Webster’s High in Kirriemuir put in the best performance in Angus on 42%.
A total of 16 secondaries beat the national average of 37%.
At the other end of the scale, only 10% of S4s at Braeview Academy in Dundee had five or more passes at Standard Grade credit, with city neighbour Baldragon Academy and Kirkland High in Methil both on 13% and Arbroath Academy on 15%.
The poorest performer at Standard Grade in Perth and Kinross was Perth Grammar, with 26%.
Moving on to Higher results, five or more passes is a tough target for pupils to aim at but many of them have hit it.
That includes 28% of the S5s at Kinross High, which again takes the honours as the best performing secondary in Tayside and Fife. Grove Academy again comes second on 27%.
Madras College in St Andrews is the best of the Fife schools on 21% and a score of 17% makes Webster’s High top of the list in Angus.
Unsurprisingly, schools with disadvantaged catchments have few, if any, pupils who pass at least five Highers.
Baldragon Academy had none while Braeview Academy and Arbroath Academy were both on 1%.
A total of 14 schools out of 45 beat the national average of 13%.
There are large variations in the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free meals a figure that can be used as a guide to the socioeconomic status of the area each school serves.
Last term 38.3% of pupils at Viewforth High in Kirkcaldy came into that category that was 10 times the rate at Pitlochry High.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Scottish Schools Online provides valuable information for parents on their local schools.
“This year we saw Scotland’s pupils achieve the best exam results since records began and with the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence we’ve halted years of decline in Scottish education performance.
“Our young people are leaving school better qualified. Higher pass rates rose from 72.9% in 2006 to 78.9% in 2012, demonstrating the strengths of our broad-based education.
“More young people than ever before are in positive destinations, with 87.2% of pupils leaving in 2010-11 still in sustained positive destinations in March 2012.
“However, we are not complacent, and where improvement is required Education Scotland provide specific inspection and support to raise standards.”
grsmith@thecourier.co.uk