fully disclose what was happening in the Island's schools and lead the teaching force by his own example.

The challenge came after Education Minister Milton Scott stressed that he would not be publishing test results by school as that would create a pecking order between them.

Recent Terra Nova Reading, Mathematics and Language exam results were released as averages for each school year and Sen. Scott argued that releasing them by school would create some sample sizes that were too small.

But yesterday Mr. Smith said: "We (the Opposition) just don't buy his sample-size-is-too-small argument. Schools are either delivering success or they are not, regardless of size.'' Mr. Smith added: "There is clearly a difference of opinion between Minister Scott and the Opposition when it comes to how to build accountability.

"We believe in full and frank disclosure, school by school. We believe in empowering communities to help solve Bermuda's education challenges. More information sharing helps this process.

"On the other side,'' continued Mr. Smith, "we have a Minister and Government that only wants to tell the public what he or it thinks they should know. The less information the better, if you will.'' Also coming under criticism from Mr. Smith was Sen. Scott's failure to set a target for improvement. Sen. Scott said this would come now that a baseline could be established using the test results.

But Mr. Smith said: "As far as setting a target, The Minister has had two years to set one. It is simply not right for him to insist that teachers and principals be held accountable while he refuses to commit to a target so that his own performance can be measured.

"It's a real `do as I say not as I do' mentality and it's not right. He should lead by example.'' Mr. Smith also took issue with Sen. Scott's statement that test results were not published until the Progressive Labour Party became the Government.

"He knows full well that I have been a strong proponent of publishing test results and other performance indicators for a very long time,'' said Mr.

Smith.

"He knows that this was an important priority when I became Education Minister in May, 1998. In fact, it was only after considerable public pressure did he finally release the Terra Nova and Stanford test results in, I believe, October, 1999.''