The Australian Parents Council (APC) has stated that the simplification from 10 bands to 4 levels of achievement is strongly supported by the Australian Parents Council, as part of the new NAPLAN standards that state and territory Education Ministers agreed to last week.
“We are really excited about these tweaks to NAPLAN reporting and believe they will be really useful in stimulating parent-teacher conversations about educational progress,” says APC CEO Ms Jenni Rickard. “Often parents tell us they find it difficult to interpret the teacher jargon used in reporting, the simple presentation of this NAPLAN report will be beneficial to many parents across the country.”
The way the data will be presented in the report to parents will enable more parents to understand their child’s progress and facilitate meaningful collaboration between parents and teachers.
ACARA stated that “The new proficiency standards will support higher expectations for student achievement and ensure students are gaining the important literacy and numeracy skills they will need throughout their lives.”
APC recognises that the greatest impact on a child’s educational outcomes is the high expectations of their parents and family. National reporting on the literacy and numeracy skills of students underpins the endeavour to deliver a quality education that all Australian families expect to have access to. The Australian Parents Council is thrilled that these small changes will make understanding how a child is developing in this system more accessible for all parents.
Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO)
The Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO) President, Ms Sharron Healy, further welcomed the announcement of the change on how NAPLAN results will be reported to families. ACSSO is the voice for families of young people attending our government schools.
“With NAPLAN going completely online and being administered in March, rather than May, means conversations about progress starts earlier in the school year and support can be given where needed,” says Ms Healy.
“The 4 levels of achievement, with the clear descriptors, can give families better information to understand how their child is progressing and enable conversations with their child’s class teacher to be more meaningful.”
Says Ms Healy: “Using the 10-band structure did give families an idea their child was progressing, if they moved from one band to the next, but really gave no indication as to whether they were performing at the level that matched their stage of schooling.”
With the adaptive assessment in literacy and numeracy coupled with clearer reporting, which uses language more commonly applied in student reports, families will have a clearer picture on where their child is with regards to expectations for their current stage and year level.
“The descriptors are key, and we expect that all schools will make the time to discuss and support the students who are in need of additional support. It’s paramount that a parent-teacher discussion is had.” Ms Healy concludes.
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