Basic Skills Test in Australia – 2012 Update – the Results are Disappointing

Australian school students now have their basic skill levels tested regularly – but what good does it do?

Not much good for the students or the teachers it seems as I will show below. All this testing has not led to any substantial improvements in teaching or learning – the only consolation is that at least we know that on average, things are not improving despite policies that have not worked such as halving class sizes in recent decades, and giving a computer to every child.

What large scale testing is being done?

Our homegrown NAPLAN test assesses about a third of our school students every year. Then there are the embarrassing ones – the international studies that Australia participates in as part of the National Assessment Program where we are measured against a large number of other countries around the world. These are : the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS); and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

What is NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is an acronym which stands for ‘National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy’. It is an annual assessment (since 2008) for all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Essentially it is a Basic Skills Test as it ‘tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.’ (To read more about NAPLAN click here.)

Why Have NAPLAN?

The NAPLAN website says it provides a measure so ‘governments, education authorities and schools and the community can determine whether or not young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes.’ (To read more about Why Have NAPLAN click here.)

That’s all well and good, but can the results be used in a practical way to improve standards? The schools and families of the children tested find out where the child’s results rank in relation to the rest of the school, and the rest of Australia. They are also provided with more detailed information on the questions that the child had difficulty with. In theory this detailed information is so teachers and parents can help the child in areas of weakness – in practice most parents don’t have the skills, and most teachers say the information does not really fit the role of a diagnostic test. In a recently released study, when teachers were asked about ‘how they were able to use the NAPLAN results and how useful it was. One of the overwhelming responses was that it comes through so late, that it’s not as useful as they would like. They can’t use it as a diagnostic tool.’ (‘Testing the test: NAPLAN makes for stressed kids and a narrow curriculum’ by Nicky Dulfer. )

What the teachers are saying in this large scientific study by Nicky Dulfer from Melbourne Uni is that one of the main reasons the NAPLAN results are useless for diagnostic purposes is that the children are tested in May – a third of the way through the year – and the detailed results a given to the parents and schools near the end of the year – too late for the teacher to use the information. By the time the child starts school the following year, the results are nearly a year old and so cannot be relied upon by the new teacher.

Grouped statistics are also published for individual schools, and for each state. The results are also organised to show changes in standards over time. Provided the results of the tests are reliable across schools and over time, then they would be useful for comparing different educational systems and how those systems progress/regress over time.

Has Education Improved in Australia Between 2008 and 2012?

The brief answer is no – there have been a few minor improvements, as well as some falls in standards.
In more detail, the situation can be summarised as follows:

• Reading Skills:

  There have been some minor improvements for Years 3 and 5 in some states, but no change in Years 7 and 9.

• Writing Skills:

  Either no improvement, or a drop in standards.

• Spelling:

  There have been some minor improvements for Years 3 and 5 in some states, but no change in Years 7 and 9.

• Grammar and Punctuation:

  No change across all year levels.

• Numeracy:

  No change for Years 3 and 9, a minor improvement for Year 5, and drop for Year 7.

In terms of education systems, the ACT, NSW and Victoria generally have higher averages than the rest of Australia.

The National Minimum Standard

It is all very well to have ‘standards’ to compare things, but do the standards actually mean what they say they do?

According to the NAPLAN reports, around 90-95% of the students in Australia reach or exceed most of the ‘National Minimum Standards’ for each skill type at their age level.

From the assessments I have done over recent years, all I can say is that the bar for minimum standards has been set very low. In my professional opinion, if a child does not score above the national average for a particular skill, I would say that child is only able to use only a small amount of his/her potential – and as a parent you should be concerned.

Recent international studies of Australian education standards agree more with my assessment.

For example, the 2011 The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found that:

A quarter of Australia’s year 4 students failed to meet the minimum standard in reading for their age.
Australia ranked 27th out of 48 countries in reading, with its mean score similar to that recorded by New Zealand, Poland and Lithuania.

Another analysis, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), showed that results

Have not improved for Australian students since 1995.

To read more see ABC News item ‘Aussie schools flatline in global education tests’.

What Does NOT Improve Standards in Basic Skills?

We have thrown money at education but the standards have not improved.
We lowered class sizes dramatically and that did not help.
Many parents moved their children to private schools but that did not help.
We gave every child a computer but that did not help.

It’s Not What You Do But HOW You Do it

The take-home message from all this testing is that the government focus needs to change from a financial perspective to a teaching methods perspective because it is clear that most of the teachers in Australia are not using effective methods to teach basic skills in our schools.

For example, the Australian, UK, USA and Canadian Governments have all done reports on the most effective ways to teach literacy over the last 10 years. All their studies reported that synthetic phonics was the best method to use but when schools have tried to implement phonics teaching into their schools, most of the commercially available programs are sub-standard at best, and teachers have not been taught how to use them in the most effective ways.

Teacher training in the teaching of reading and maths is academic in that trainee teachers must write essays ABOUT teaching reading and maths, BUT THEY DO NOT GET THE DETAILED TECHNICAL TRAINING NEEDED TO DO THIS WELL IN PRACTICE.

It is as simple as that! Stop trying to fix the problems in a quantitative way. Just throwing money at the problem in a non-focussed way will not work – either on a national/state level, or on a family level by paying high school fees.

Here at High Performance Learning our focus is on using methods that work – all our students make dramatic improvements in their school grades AND their NAPLAN tests. Not only that, they enjoy learning and find it easy. For the parents, they enjoy the time they spend with their children much more, and home-life is much less stressful – and more inspiring for all.

Furthermore, when we assess a child’s basic skills, the parents sit in so they can see what happens. We then report to the parent and the child immediately after the assessment session and recommend an appropriate remedial program which can start within a week.

Chris Brooks
Principal
High Performance Learning

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