Transparency, reporting and assessment
To support the government’s reform priorities and accurately identify where the greatest educational need across the Australian community is located, and encourage excellence in every school, we need a basis for fair, consistent and accurate analysis of how different schools are doing. Accurate information on how students are performing tells teachers, principals, parents and governments what needs to be done.
In a new era of transparency nationally comparable data for each school is now available via a national website. The My School website provides the most comprehensive school information that Australia has ever had. For each school in Australia, it provides a national profile that contains a range of information about the school, including details about the type of school, student and staff numbers, student attendance rate, socio-economic background of the school student body, teaching resources, results from national literacy and numeracy tests, Year 12 attainment, and post-school destinations.
The site uses a specially created index formed using Australian Bureau of Statistics data to group schools with similar student backgrounds. This then allows the comparison of school results in national literacy and numeracy testing with similarly advantaged or disadvantaged schools.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is responsible for reporting the information.
For more information, including an explanation of how statistically similar schools were selected for comparison, please visit MySchool.
The best way of ensuring an honest comprehensive public debate on school performances and Australia’s education system in general is to ensure accurate, clear information is publicly available. The community can now participate in the public debate about the future of education with the benefit of relevant comparable information on schools.
For further information about the principles and protocols for reporting on schooling in Australia, please visit MCEECDYA.
National Assessment Program
The National Assessment Program (NAP) is an ongoing program of assessments that monitors progress towards the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. It encompasses all tests endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Early childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA). These include:
- National literacy and numeracy tests (NAPLAN)
- Sample assessments in science literacy, civics and citizenship, information and communication technology (ICT) literacy
- Australia’s participation in international tests
Three sample assessments are held every three years to test students’ skills and understandings in three learning areas:
- Science literacy – Year 6 (science is assessed at senior levels by international tests)
- Civics and citizenship – Years 6 and 10
- Information and communication technology – Years 6 and 10
More information on NAP sample assessments is available at the MCEECDYA website.
2008 National ICT Literacy Sample Assessment results for Year 6 and Year 10 students
On the 22 April 2010 the Hon Julia Gillard MP, Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, released the 2008 National ICT Literacy Sample Assessment results for Year 6 and Year 10 students on behalf of the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. The report can be viewed at the MCEECDYA website.
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy
In 2008, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced in Australian schools. The program continued in 2009 with all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 being assessed using national tests in reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy.
For the first time in 2010 parents will be able to see how their child has progressed in their literacy and numeracy performance as they will be able to compare their child’s NAPLAN results from 2008 with the results from the 2010 tests.