NAPLAN shows parents exactly how it is in the classroom. The schools of today are all about accountability and performance, and parents are keen to see their children getting the best start possible. No surprise, then, that schools are now required to put their report cards on the table.
In 2008, the Australian government began the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, otherwise known as NAPLAN. Each year, all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are assessed on the same day using standardised national tests in reading, writing, language conventions (including spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
NAPLAN testing has a number of implications and it means parents can analyse their children’s results and determine their rankings in each subject. It also means parents choosing potential schools can compare their performance against similar schools across the country.
The MySchool website is a user-friendly database and a treasure trove of information, including NAPLAN results. It was re-released in February with data from the 2010 and 2011 tests.
But MySchool hasn’t been without controversy. Teachers and education unionists have complained that poor results in a certain area don’t necessarily mean educators aren’t performing well.
Others have complained that NAPLAN covers only a section of a school’s curriculum and doesn’t accurately reflect the wide-ranging opportunities it might offer. Some parents and teachers claim schools and students risk being stigmatised by the data presented on the MySchool website.
The latest release of MySchool allows parents to compare schools using socio-economic and geographical data.
James Morrow, spokesman for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority – which publishes the MySchool website and develops the NAPLAN tests – says the new site uses a measure called the Index of Community Socio Educational Advantage (ICSEA).
“It’s a way of seeing how educationally advantaged the students at the school are,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s fairly complex, takes into account whether a school is urban or rural, and allows you to compare similar schools,” he says.
“You can see colour codings of how schools perform against schools with similar ICSEA values. A school may be basically on average with schools nationwide, but they may be, compared to similar schools, punching above their weight.”
Morrow says the results are great for accountability and to help identify areas of need and potential funding.
“There have been plenty of situations where schools have been identified as being weak in certain areas and the government has directed more resources into those areas to help. It’s positive not punitive,” he says.
‘‘NAPLAN doesn’t supplement any of the things being an involved parent entails, but it does give you another picture, another window in to how the school is going.”
