The Manual provides information to assist schools and school systems to collect student background information from parents as agreed by Education Ministers. This is to enable nationally comparable reporting of the progress of students with particular background characteristics towards the achievement of national goals and targets at various points of schooling.
Information is collected from students' parents (or guardians) via enrolment forms on students’:
sex
Indigenous status
socioeconomic background
language background.
The student background information is provided to the test administration authority responsible for delivering the Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 national literacy and numeracy tests and the assessment contractor engaged to conduct the 2009 assessment of the science literacy of a national sample of Year 6 students.
The nationally comparable data are required to identify students in need and to inform policy and resourcing decisions, including the provision of targeted support to address the learning and development needs of disadvantaged students.
The Manual describes what is involved and what it means in practical terms for schools, school systems and test administration authorities or contractors.
It is the responsibility of schools and school systems to review and adjust their data collection tools and data processing procedures to ensure that their collections incorporate the standard definitions, question modules and data coding structure for each of the agreed student background characteristics.
For the purposes of nationally comparable reporting, schools and school systems are not required to seek updated information from parents once the information has been collected according to the agreed questions and responses. However, school systems and schools may decide to do so in light of particular policies on student information management. Updating of data also depends on any requirements for agencies or organisations to comply with the privacy legislation applicable to the State/Territory or sector to ensure that information they collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
The main changes to the Manual for 2009 are:
the change to the document’s title
an increased emphasis on the need for improved, nationally comparable data to underpin and progress the schooling elements of the COAG agenda and policy framework; and on the role of schools in ensuring that data are complete and accurate
the release of an updated edition of the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) index for coding responses to the ‘Country of birth’ data item
the insertion of direct electronic links to the current editions of the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL) and Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) indexes on the ABS website, including correspondence tables to assist users to convert data where the revision of the ASCL or SACC classification has resulted in changes to language or country codes.
The Manual is intended for people in schools and school systems who are involved in the:
design of enrolment forms and enrolment processes
collection of information from parents
design, maintenance or modification of student information storage and retrieval systems
updating of student records
school-level management or coordination of students’ participation in full cohort literacy and numeracy testing, and national sample assessments.
The Manual also provides information for test administration authorities and software providers.
Not all schools need to use the Manual. In large systems, for example, implementation of the data collection requirements is a central responsibility.
The Manual and its attachments can be downloaded as one complete document or, for convenience, as four separate documents.
Introduction Purpose of the 2009 Manual Background Who should use the Manual? What is the National Assessment Program (NAP)? What assessments will be conducted in 2009? Privacy requirements Help for schools
