It is time for a new narrative on schools in Australia. The Alignment Premium proposes its major features. Analysis of approaches in 13 countries, including most of the world's top-performers, provides 15 benchmarks against which Australia's performance is assessed. Findings include:

• Alignment among different levels of government may be commendable in some respects but there is much that is coercive, contrived, dysfunctional or illusory;
• While achieving a top-ten ranking will depend on what occurs in schools, attention should shift to how systems are adapting to support all schools to become as good as Australia's best;
• Lack of trust and inertia are serious constraints on efforts to transform Australia's schools.

Programs for professional learning of teachers and school leaders are impressive when assessed against international benchmarks. These should be the top priority. Building on findings in The Autonomy Premium, the focus should be on professional autonomy. The challenge is to design a system in which all those who work in or for schools are fully professional. This challenge extends to early childhood and innovative approaches to polytechnic education.

The Alignment Premium is essential reading for policymakers, school leaders and researchers who wish to write the new narrative.