Ms Katy Gallagher MLA, Minister for Education and Training, ACT, released on Thursday 1 September 2005 the 2003 National Science Assessment results for Year 6 students on behalf of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).
This is the first nationally comparable science assessment designed, developed and carried out by MCEETYA as part of their commitment to informing the public of progress made towards the achievement of the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century. This undertaking commenced with annual reporting of literacy and numeracy results in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and will extend to assessment of civics and citizenship and information and communications technology.
This Science Assessment represents a new direction in national approaches to reporting on and celebrating the achievements of Australian students and schools. The range of student achievement is reported and a national standard of performance referred to as a 'proficient' standard has been set.
The 'proficient' standard is a challenging level of performance requiring students to demonstrate more than minimal or elementary skills to be regarded as reaching it. As such, fewer students than currently meet the national literacy and numeracy benchmarks would be expected to meet the national 'proficient' standard. A more detailed explanation of the difference between 'proficient' standards and minimum standards are in the background notes.
Results of the assessment show that nationally, 58.2 per cent of students achieved or bettered the 'proficient' standard (level 3.2). The highest proficiency levels (levels 3.3 & 4 and above) were achieved by 7.7 per cent of students.
Students were assessed on their scientific literacy. This is the application of broad conceptual understandings of science to make sense of the world, understand natural phenomena, and interpret media reports about scientific issues. It also includes asking investigative questions, conducting investigations, collecting and interpreting data and making decisions. Scientific literacy is also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for their Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
A random sample of students undertook the assessment consisting of 6 per cent of the total Australian Year 6 student population from all States and Territories.
