The second snapshot of Tasmania's public education system shows improvements across most measures, Premier and Education Minister David Bartlett said today.

"There are also areas for improvement and this snapshot, for the first time, allows performance to be compared for consecutive years.

"It is a robust system that brings accountability and transparency to the performance of our schools."

Mr Bartlett was speaking at the release of Tasmania's Education Performance Report 2008- Government Schools.

"The report provides parents and the wider Tasmanian community with current information on the government's priority areas of the early years, literacy and numeracy, student retention, school improvement and equity.

"It clearly shows there has been improvement across most measures.

"Of particular note are the improvements in measurements of readiness for school, early literacy, early numeracy, gain in literacy, percentage of parents generally satisfied, parent satisfaction with reporting, staff attendance and indigenous equity," Mr Bartlett said.

"My priority is to lift Tasmania's educational outcomes from below the Australian average to the top of the nation within 10 years.

"The results from the first common national literacy and numeracy tests, which are reported for the first time this year, show that this is achievable.

"The Year 3 results in particular show that our investment in the early years is beginning to show results."

Mr Bartlett said that the 2008 report showed that Tasmanian children's readiness for school had improved statewide.

"The percentage of Kindergarten students achieving expected outcomes has increased, placing this achievement in the high category," he said.

"Improvement in this area is trending up over recent years indicating excellent progress.

"There was a 74% increase in the number of parents who responded to the survey in 2008 than in the year before and parents' satisfaction with their child's schooling in general, and also in relation to reporting, has risen."

Mr Bartlett said that it was important that the report also highlighted areas for improvement.

"Student retention remains a concern across the state and I'm confident that we will soon start to reap the rewards of our post-Year 10 education reforms aimed at improving retention into Years 11 and 12," he said.

Mr Bartlett said that the focus of the report on year-by-year improvement achieved by our schools in absolute, not just relative, terms gave parents and the community robust information about our progress.

"We will celebrate the improvement successes of our schools and will respond with policy and resource support where further improvement is needed, for example, Learning Services will be supporting schools to improve attendance," he said.

"My Government is committed to improving educational outcomes and the Tasmania's Education Performance Report 2008 is an important tool in measuring our progress towards achievement of our goals."

The report can be accessed by visiting the Department of Education website at www.education.tas.gov.au.