Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says choosing the best school for your children nowadays is still little more than guesswork.
The federal education minister said parents were forced to rely on rumour and prejudice rather than basing their decision on facts.
"A lot of guessing goes into the decision and there should be more objective information," Ms Gillard told The Weekend Australian.
She has proposed schools make public as much information as they can, from the qualifications of their teachers to comparing their students' performance against groups of similar schools.
Inspired by changes introduced in New York City, the education minister said parents could not have the same level of confidence in Australian schools.
"I'm not sure that this is the case at the moment," Ms Gillard said. "So I think the more information that's available to parents the better. People will still make choices for a wide variety of reasons."