Page 5214 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 27 October 2010
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students achieving in the top performance bands when compared with other jurisdictions. That was a very strong performance in reading.
In writing, not only were the scores again high but what was very impressive this year was that in 2010 ACT students improved across all year levels. The year 3 mean score was significantly higher than the results in 2008 and 2009. In spelling in years 3 and 9 the ACT ranked equal highest. Between 92 and 96 per cent of students achieved at or above the national minimum standard. In this area there is still room for improvement, particularly across the middle years where, as in previous years, ACT results at years 5 and 7 were less strong than for years 3 and 9.
In grammar and punctuation, ACT results across all year levels were the highest or equal highest in Australia, continuing the excellent results achieved in 2008 and 2009. Between 93 and 95 per cent of students achieved at or above the national minimum standard.
Whilst acknowledging these excellent results for ACT students overall, there is no doubting that our Indigenous students continue to perform less well than their non-Indigenous peers. This is a concern and something the government is doing something about. A core element of the national education agreement and the smarter schools national partnership is closing the gap in educational achievement for Indigenous students.
In the ACT, the 2009 NAPLAN results showed that the greatest difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students was in year 3—grammar and punctuation, reading and spelling. The situation improves as students move through school, with the achievement gap at its lowest by year 9. It is pleasing to note that the ACT leads the way in translating national policy into local practice.
Whilst the achievement gap in the ACT is of concern, it is worth noting also that Indigenous students in the ACT outperform their peers in all other states and territories. This is indicative of the commitment of the ACT Department of Education and Training and the federal and ACT governments to close the gap in educational achievement.
What is also noteworthy about the 2010 NAPLAN results is that the ACT’s distance from the national mean increased for years 3, 5 and 7, suggesting improvement relative to other jurisdictions. Together with New South Wales and Victoria, the ACT mean scores were the highest in the country, with between 88 and 97 per cent of students achieving at or above national minimum standard. Impressively, and from an already very high starting point, the results are showing that ACT schools are continuously improving.
At the end of 2008, the ACT government committed to the Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians. A number of national partnership agreements, the smarter schools partnerships, were developed to achieve these goals. $107 million from the federal Labor government has gone into the ACT as part of these smarter schools partnerships. The ACT’s literacy and numeracy strategy 2009-13 and the 21 additional literacy and numeracy experts we have employed in classrooms, coaching and mentoring teachers are all contributing to improve NAPLAN results.
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