The Manual provides information to assist schools and school systems to collect student background information from parents as agreed by Education Ministers. The nationally comparable data are required to monitor and report on progress towards the achievement of national goals and targets at various points of schooling, and to provide the evidence base to underpin future policy reforms and improvements.
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 linked to students' results in the various components of the National Assessment Program (NAP). In 2010 the NAP will have both national and international components.
All Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will participate in the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. Samples of Year 6 and Year 10 students will participate in the Civics and Citizenship national sample assessment.
Samples of Year 4 and 8 students will participate in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The Year 4 students will also participate in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).
The Manual describes what is involved and what it means in practical terms for schools, school systems, test administration authorities and assessment contractors.
The 2010 Data Standards Manual is the fifth edition of the publication and replaces the 2009 edition.
The 2010 Manual has an increased emphasis on:
the importance of having accurate, reliable and nationally comparable data to support and progress the schooling elements of the Council of Australian Governments' agenda and policy framework; and
the role of schools in ensuring that data on student background characteristics associated with educational disadvantage are sufficiently robust to support national objectives aimed at reducing that disadvantage.
The reporting of student outcomes data, disaggregated by the agreed student background characteristics, is a standard component of national performance reporting requirements and applies to all government and non-government schools. 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 variables, as per the technical specifications provided in the Manual.
The Manual is intended for school and school system personnel responsible for
designing enrolment forms and enrolment processes
collecting information from parents
designing, maintaining or modifying student information storage and retrieval systems
updating student records
managing or coordinating at the school level studentsâ participation in full cohort literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) testing, and national or international sample assessments.
The Manual also provides information for test administration authorities and software providers.
The Manual and its attachments can be downloaded as one complete document or, for convenience, as separate documents.
Action required Data quality assurance Existing users New users Help for schools Privacy requirements
Technical specifications How information is collected, stored and reported for each of the background characteristics Sex Indigenous status Parental school education Parental non-school education Parental occupation group Main language other than English spoken at home Country of birth
