Newsletter 2: 21 February 2023
Dear Colleagues,
There has been much in the media in recent weeks critiquing the changes in NAPLAN testing format, timing, and reporting. Educators are well aware that these changes are a direct outcome from the 2020 Independent Review of NAPLAN, and were forecast by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 12 months ago. Teachers, Principals, system leaders, and academics across the country were consulted in every jurisdiction and sector during this review. The Education Ministers of Australia and ACARA have been faithful in the implementation of key findings. After 12 years of NAPLAN and 10 years of the My School Website, a thorough evaluation of this large cohort testing regime was timely. The added disruptions to the test caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 added to the opportunity to consider a reset to the test in light of learnings over the past decade.
Key issues reported among teachers in 2020 which have informed changes include:
i. The time delay of almost 7 months for students and teachers from the actual test dates until results were made available.
ii. The need to appropriately utilise technology to aid the administering, marking, and reporting of the tests.
iii. The need for a more explicit focus on achievement by students for each year level of testing, reflecting more readily a student’s proficiency at their current stage of schooling.
ACARA has attempted to address these issues and others. Marist educators have actively contributed through their various State and Territory peak Catholic education bodies to this important national initiative.
As Marist educators we do need to be able to appropriately challenge some of the misunderstandings around the reporting of NAPLAN that have at times prevailed in some sections of the media. At the end of November last year, the Chief Executive Officer of ACARA David de Carvalho was compelled to issue the following correcting statement.
Media reporting using NAPLAN data to show the “best performing” public and private schools in Australia highlights how misleading media reports can be when it comes to education. The problem with “league tables” presented in these news stories is that they take no account of the educational advantages that the students who are enrolled in these so-called “top-performing schools” bring with them. Many of these students have parents who are affluent and well-educated themselves, which is an enormous advantage.
For example, the student populations at both the “top performing” primary and secondary schools in NSW are in the top 1% in terms of socio-educational advantage which takes into account parental education and employment.
To heap credit on the schools they attend, just because they are getting high scores, is to mistake the outcome for the educational input provided by the school. Many of these students would do just as well at other schools.
A more accurate and meaningful approach to assessing the educational input that a school provides is found in the changes to the My School website that ACARA introduced in 2020. This allows for a fairer assessment by comparing the increase in average NAPLAN scores at a school between two tests (e.g., Year 3 and Year 5) with the increase achieved by all other students across the country who had the same starting score and the same level of socio-educational advantage.
It provides authoritative and accurate information that parents can use to assess which schools are really making a difference.
Marist Schools Australia has consistently advocated greater emphasis on the measure of learning gain in the reporting of NAPLAN results, as the statistical comparison for a school with students with similar socio economic advantage and students with the same starting score provides helpful external information for parents, school leaders, and teachers in the evaluation and validation of the educational experience for students in their school. As David de Carvalho explains, it is a more accurate and meaningful approach to assessing the “educational input” that a school provides.(1)
The Catholic Church has long prioritised high quality, innovative school education. All Catholic schools are founded on the person of Jesus and as Marists we aspire to make Jesus known and loved through quality Catholic education. Book III of the Church’s Code of Canon Law devotes the first chapter to Catholic Schools. In the context of the NAPLAN debates, noteworthy is Canon 806 section 2, that states:
Directors(2) of Catholic schools are to take care under the watchfulness of the local ordinary that the instruction which is given in them is at least as academically distinguished as that in the other schools of the area.
The emphasis is clear. Comparisons matter. In Australia we have a sophisticated tool which provides a well researched and internationally recognised approach to compare schools that goes beyond the immediate local area. Our schools must ever seek to generate among parents confidence in the quality of learning and teaching, and confidence that the manner in which we do this will lead their children to experience God’s love.
This week we celebrate Ash Wednesday and commence the Lenten Season. Schools are encouraged to consider along with the usual commitments to Caritas through Project Compassion, the International Marist Appeal for those so tragically devastated by the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey.
Gracious God, lead us in this period of inner reflection and examination.
May we be drawn inward to that silent, holy space that holds your Spirit.
This special time beckons us to see our life through
Jesus’ eyes and the truth and reality of your love incarnate.
Give us the grace to enter the space of these days
with anticipation of our meeting.
(1). Important to note is that due to the changes, ACARA has indicated the data set of past results from 2008 to 2022 will not be compared with the results from 2023 onwards.
(2). The term “Directors” in the international context is understood to include Principals as well as leaders at a system or governance level.