NAPLAN

Australia: NAPLAN 2017 results have largely flat-lined, and patterns of inequality continue

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Oceanía/Australia/Diciembre del 2017/https://theconversation.com

Today’s release of the 2017 NAPLAN National Report confirms preliminary findings released in August and offers deeper insights into achievement trends since the assessment program began a decade ago.

The results paint an overall portrait of plateauing student achievement in literacy and numeracy, mixed with pockets of improvement and persistent inequalities between young people from different backgrounds.

High level trends over the past decade

NAPLAN takes place annually. It assesses Australian school students in years three, five, seven and nine across four domains: reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, and grammar and punctuation), and numeracy.

Nationally, NAPLAN results have flat-lined in most areas since testing was first conducted in 2008. There are no statistically significant differences in achievement across the majority of domains and year levels.

Read more: NAPLAN is ten years old – so how is the nation faring?

Improvements can be seen in a limited number of domains and year levels. There are statistically significant increases in spelling (years three and five), reading (years three and five), numeracy (year five), and grammar and punctuation (year three).

National numeracy trends 2008-2017. ACARA

Year seven writing is the only area to show a statistically significant decline. It remains a major area of concern.

State and territory comparisons reveal good news for Queensland and Western Australia. Both show improvements across a number of domains and year levels.

New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory show high achievement, but results have plateaued.

The Northern Territory continues to lag significantly behind the rest of the nation across all domains and year levels.

The vast majority of young people meet the National Minimum Standards (NMS). NMS provide a measure of how many students are performing above or below the minimum expected level for their age across the domains.

NMS percentages are over 90% for the majority of domains and year levels. But NMS percentages vary widely. For example, only 55.7% of students in the Northern Territory meet the NMS for year seven writing, compared to 90.8% in Victoria.

Background affects achievement

This year’s results show clear patterns of achievement between young people from different backgrounds. In many cases, these differences reflect broader inequalities in Australian society.

Notable trends include:

  • gender differences are persistent. Female students perform significantly better than male students in writing, and grammar and punctuation across all year levels. For example, 88.1% of female students meet the NMS for year nine writing, compared to 75.4% of male students
  • students with a language background other than English (LBOTE) performed significantly better in spelling than non-LBOTE students across all year levels. LBOTE students have also shown gains since 2008 in reading (years three and five), grammar and punctuation (years three and seven), spelling (years three and five) and numeracy (year five)

Year 5 spelling: students with a language background other than English (LBOTE) compared to non-LBOTE students.ACARA
  • Indigenous students have shown statistically significant gains since 2008 in reading (years three and five), spelling (years three and five), grammar and punctuation (years three and seven) and numeracy (years five and nine). But Indigenous students still trail significantly behind non-Indigenous students across all domains and years levels

Year 5 reading: achievement differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. ACARA
  • parental education is a key factor determining student achievement. For example, in year three grammar and punctuation, the mean scale score for a young person whose parents have a Bachelor degree or above is 479.7, compared to 369.6 for students whose parents have a Year 11 equivalent or below. Similar patterns are reflected across all domains and year levels
  • geographical location also has a major bearing on student achievement. For example, in year three grammar and punctuation, the mean scale score for young people in major cities was 450, compared to 284.6 for young people from very remote and 411.5 for outer regional locations.

As always, tread cautiously with data

NAPLAN is one useful measure of student achievement in Australian schooling.

When interpreted carefully, it can help policy makers, researchers, school leaders, teachers, students and parents better understand and debate literacy and numeracy achievements. It also serves to highlight pockets of underachievement and disadvantage, and can play an important role informing policy interventions and investments.

Read more: Evidence-based education needs standardised assessment

But NAPLAN is not an oracle and can only tell us so much. So we should treat these results carefully.

To get a more accurate picture of achievement trends, we need to take a number of indicators into consideration. This should go beyond the basics of literacy and numeracy, including achievements in ATAR subjects, year 12 attainment rates, and more.

NAPLAN results should also be considered in relation to other standardised assessments, which do not always tell the same story.

For example, the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) suggest reading achievement among Australian children has improved significantly, whereas the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows steadily declining Australian results in all areas, including reading.

It’s also important to analyse school and student level NAPLAN data, which will be released in March 2018. It will no doubt lead to another round of debates about the role of NAPLAN in our schools.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/naplan-2017-results-have-largely-flat-lined-and-patterns-of-inequality-continue-88132

Fuente Imagen: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Nrc1tCbuLew0bcSfJHcRtqiLgR64N4zyqP1PCV8oJ4kxIrvTh4VXCXAlG-akl-zAfD2BkQ=s124

 

 

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Australia: NAPLAN is ten years old – so how is the nation faring?

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Oceanía/Australia/Agosto 2017/Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

 

The NAPLAN 2017 summary results have been released with the usual mix of criticism, high hopes and panic that marks the yearly unveiling of data.

This year’s results will generate particular interest, as 2017 is the tenth time NAPLAN has been conducted since it was first introduced in 2008.

The final report is not due until December, but the summary results provide a useful opportunity to reflect not only on how young Australians have fared over the past year, but also over the past decade.

What does NAPLAN test?

NAPLAN takes place every year and assesses Australian school students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across four domains: reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, and grammar and punctuation), and numeracy.

NAPLAN is a “census assessment”. This means it tests all young people in all schools (government and non-government) across Australia.

NAPLAN uses an assessment scale divided into ten bands to report student progress through Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Band 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest.

Each year, NAPLAN data for every school in the nation is published on the publicly accessible My School website.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which manages NAPLAN and My School, suggests the test and website increase transparency, and allow for fair and meaningful comparisons between schools.

Others, however, argue the website has transformed NAPLAN into a “high-stakes” test with perverse consequences.

How do 2017 data compare to 2016 data?

Compared to 2016 results, 2017 data show:

  • no statistically significant difference in achievement in any domain or year level at the national level;
  • South Australia had the only statistically significant change out of any state or territory, with a decline in Year 3 writing achievement;
  • New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory continue to be the highest-performing jurisdictions, scoring above the national average across the majority of domains and year levels; and
  • the Northern Territory continues to significantly underperform on all measures when compared with other jurisdictions (see, for example, Year 3 reading trends below).

How do 2017 data compare to 2008 data?

Compared to 2008, 2017 data show:

  • no statistically significant difference in achievement across the majority of domains and year levels at the national level;
  • statistically significant improvements at the national level in: spelling (years 3 and 5); reading (years 3 and 5); numeracy (year 5); and grammar and punctuation (year 3);
Year 3 Reading results: 2008-2017.
  • Year 7 writing is the only area to show a statistically significant decline in achievement at the national level (based on data from 2011 to 2017);
  • Queensland and Western Australia stand out positively, showing statistically significant improvements across a number of domains and year levels;
  • despite high mean achievement overall, there has been a plateauing of results in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory; and
  • students have moved from lower to higher bands of achievement across most domains over the past ten years. This is illustrated in the following graph that shows band shifts in Year 3 reading (green) and Year 9 numeracy (blue).
From 2008-2017 there has been a gradual redistribution of students from lower bands of achievement to higher ones in many domains.

How many students meet the National Minimum Standards?

Another important NAPLAN indicator is the percentage of students meeting the National Minimum Standards (NMS).

NMS provide a measure of how many students are performing above or below the minimum expected level for their age across the domains.

The 2017 national portrait remains positive in relation to the NMS, with percentages over 90% for the majority of domains and year levels.

Year 9 numeracy has the highest NMS percentage of 95.8% at the national level.

Year 9 writing has the lowest NMS percentage of 81.5% at the national level.

The Northern Territory continues to lag significantly behind the rest of the nation across all domains and years, with NMS percentages falling distressingly low in some cases. For example, only 50% of Year 9 students in the Northern Territory meet the NMS for writing.

What are the implications moving forward?

It is safe to say the nation is standing still compared to last year and has not made any amazing leaps or bounds since the test was first introduced.

This will be of concern to many, given one of the main justifications for introducing NAPLAN (and committing major investments and resources to it) was to improve student achievement in literacy and numeracy.

The general lack of improvement in NAPLAN is also put into stark relief by steadily declining results by Australian students on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Those committed to NAPLAN see improving the test as the best way forward, along with improving the ways data are used by system leaders, policymakers, educators, parents and students.

One major change in 2018 is that schools will begin transitioning away from the current pen and paper version to NAPLAN online. ACARA hopes this will produce better assessment, more precise results and a faster turnaround of information.

Schools will initially move to NAPLAN online on an opt-in basis, with the aim of all schools being online by 2019.

Only time will tell as to whether NAPLAN online has the desired effects and whether the current cycle of stagnating results will continue.

 

Fuente :

https://theconversation.com/naplan-is-ten-years-old-so-how-is-the-nation-faring-81565

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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8OSBmjLJEzcuukzvgfEthPZpeKbJA_CUYI2bRS8CU1ryah1hSazjFgMjLBf-0tSNCcJC=s170

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Australia Institute calls for public inquiry to explain poor NAPLAN results in Canberra

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Australia/ July 21, 17/ By: Hannah Walmsley/ Source: http://www.abc.net.au

Un nuevo informe que evalúa los resultados del NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) en el ACT (Australian Capital Territory) afirma que el estatus socio-económico de los padres de Camberra explica el rendimiento por encima del promedio, no las escuelas.

A new report assessing NAPLAN results in the ACT claims the socio-economic status of Canberra parents explains above-average performance, not the schools.

The territory has almost always achieved NAPLAN scores higher than the national average.

But the Australia Institute said government reporting had previously failed to highlight that the ACT had a significantly higher socio-economic average than the rest of the country.

When we compare our high socio-economic schools with high socio-economic schools in other states, the report said, we are falling behind.

Apples for apples

The report compared the NAPLAN results of 24 high socio-economic public and private primary schools in the ACT between 2008 and 2016.

«These are schools that are very similar in terms of their socio-economic make-up,» report author and ANU professor Andrew Macintosh said.

Education Minister Yvette Berry had previously said other states were simply starting to perform better.

«The ACT Government is proud of its high investment, more than other states and territory, in its school system,» she said.

Professor Macintosh said the ACT Government needed to stop making excuses for underperformance.

«We’re asking the ACT Government to undertake a public enquiry to find out exactly what is going on in our schools,» he told ABC Radio Canberra.

«We think that we’re not currently employing best practice, but we can’t categorically say it’s teaching methods.

«We’re also calling for a voluntary trial to demonstrate that these teaching methods actually work.»

The average proportion of students from the sample ACT Government schools that performed below the national minimum standard was 80 per cent higher than the average from statistically similar schools.

«The data across the board shows quite clearly that there is a significant problem in our schools,» Professor Macintosh said.

«We have a highly educated population, some of the best researchers in the country and almost everything you’d want to see in order to produce the top performing schools.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-21/australia-institute-calls-for-public-inquiry-to-explain-naplan/8730798

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