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CRITICS of the Federal Government's new My School website say the data does not recognise the hard work being done in Melton schools to help underachieving students.

The performance results for schools on www.myschool.edu.au show some Melton schools are struggling to keep up with national levels of literacy and numeracy.

The website, which went live last Thursday, uses results from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests from years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The test scores are from 2008 and 2009.

The site allows a comparison to be made with the national average scores of schools that have similar student demographics.

The website also reveals many schools are playing catch-up. Average scores on reading, writing and numeracy in year3 are low, often below the average for similar schools and well below the state average.

But in some cases the results improve vastly by the year 7 literacy and numeracy tests.

Melton Secondary College principal Eric Sealey said he did not think parents would choose a school for their children based on "how kids went on a test on a particular day".

Mr Sealey said parents were well informed of NAPLAN results and the website would not hold any surprises.

But he said the website overlooked the "value-adding" done in local schools. "There are primary schools in Melton that lift the children from a lower base than the state average when they enter at prep to a level higher than the state average. The website won't recognise that value-adding."

Mr Sealey, who last year was principal at Melton West Primary, said it would be a terrific outcome if the website revealed schools were struggling and that was followed up with funding to help bridge the gap.

Diggers Rest Primary principal Sean Lawless warned against a "simplistic assessment" of a school based on the website's data.

"People should not read too much into the data. The scores are taken from one test on one day in May last year."

Year 9 NAPLAN data shows literacy and numeracy performance at schools such as Mowbray and Melton Christian College are above numeracy level and the level of similar schools, while the larger government secondary schools are below on both measures.

Click here to view the My School website