On 11 September 2009 Ministers responsible for schooling released the first set of results from the 2009 national literacy and numeracy tests that were conducted across Australia in May this year.
To support the release of national data, MCEECDYA Chair and South Australian Minister for Education, the Hon Jane Lomax-Smith, said that from next week, over one million school students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will begin to receive their individual reports showing their performance in this year’s national assessments of essential literacy and numeracy skills.
This is the second year of testing using the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, which ushered in a new era in reporting student performance to parents.
NAPLAN measures all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 using common tests nationwide. Student performance can also be shown on a single scale that continues from year 3 to year 9, which will enable parents to see their child’s progress over time.
Minister Lomax-Smith acknowledged the ongoing national cooperation that resulted in the implementation of these tests from 2008, providing common information to parents and teachers across the country.
“I would like to acknowledge the ongoing collaboration evident between all the states and territories and the Australian Government to continue to improve their reporting to parents. Parents now receive a report that shows how their child is performing in relation to other students in their particular year group, against the national average and, in time, relative to previous achievement.”
Minister Lomax-Smith also highlighted the importance of the information as a means of supporting and improving student achievement.
“Schools receive valuable information on student performance from the NAPLAN that can be used to inform teaching and educational planning. I invite parents with questions about their child’s results to speak to their teacher to learn more about their performance at school.”
“From next year, the NAPLAN will be able to provide individual students’ progress over time, with the students who were first tested in 2008, undertaking the testing under the NAPLAN for the second time in 2010.”
“This year, State- and Territory-wide progress in comparison to 2008 is able to be reported. This information will be important in helping Ministers to ensure that we continue to improve standards of literacy and numeracy.”
Copies of the 2009NAPLAN Summary Report, Achievement in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy and more information about the national literacy and numeracy assessments can be found at www.naplan.edu.au.
