The use of national literacy and numeracy tests to create league tables for Australian schools is dividing educators and the nation. Do parents have a “right to know” or are we just laying the boot into already struggling schools?
Here’s what the media and pundits are saying this morning:
The straight stories
The Australian
Teachers face pay being docked over tests boycott:
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has refused to rule out supporting action against teachers if they go through with their threat to boycott the tests, saying industrial action taken outside the enterprise bargaining period is not lawful.
Ms Gillard refused to rule out a bitter industrial fight. “I will do everything I need to do to ensure that this school transparency takes effect,” she said.
The Daily Telegraph
Principal benefit in school league tables:
Some principals believe NAPLAN results should be published so parents can make informed choices.
In the state’s northwest, new Nyngan High School principal Chad Bliss said parents needed access to data about their children’s school.
The Age
Pyne backs principal power:
A Coalition government would make future Commonwealth schools funding conditional on states and territories giving principals greater autonomy, Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said yesterday.
The colour:
The Australian
Ban on school testing ‘no solution’:
The principal of Ringwood Secondary College, in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, says the tests, in conjunction with teacher judgment and other internal assessment, have become invaluable in the way the school structures student learning.
The commentary:
Sydney Morning Herald, editorial
A test of schools and governments:
Underperforming schools have slipped under the radar for too long, at their students’ expense. The AEU’s fears about misleading, damaging and demoralising league tables – while legitimate if schools are inappropriately compared – should not distract anyone from the grim reality of failing schools.
Gold Coast Bulletin, editorial
Naplan: it’s not all about teachers:
Naplan is a way for Queensland parents to objectively assess their children’s progress against students in other schools, which — whether teachers like it or not — is the only way they can judge how teachers are teaching their child. Teachers are terrified of this development, wrongly we believe.
Parents have a right to know exactly what? Will the Naplan test give any realistic indication about how your child with all his idiosyncrasies, challenges and strengths will do at a particular school. Will ‘choice’ let you select the best teacher for your child or just the school that punches out the highest test scores.
It would be difficult to construct a more facile argument that the proposition that naplan and school by school comparisons based on simple data sets gives any realistic or useful guide to how well your child will do at school.
This policy is devoid of evidence that it will improve schools or analysis of data about how to do so and it panders to and stokes parents fears.
Sad to see a good system like Australia’s follow the failed US model.
Yes, parents have the right to know about their schools, the good and the areas for improvement. However, a well rounded insight into a school is not gained by a test score, or even a number of test scores, such as the comparison between NAPLAN, School Certificate and HSC results, as occurs in NSW. In some kind of vague idea that the three external examinations (all written, two based upon ‘literacy’ and one a route learning exercise in BS) can provide detailed information to parents is flawed.
However, teachers and parents need to decide upon the sharing of information, as is currently provided in NSW via parents and teachers writing annual school reports, not the ‘union’ or the government.
Imagine a student who is able to develop a range of written works (examples of creative and workplace- currently the NAPLAN only requires a creative-narrative writing task), displaying planning, drafting, self-editing and publication skills, all within a time limit of say, six weeks, wrapped up in a portfolio with a reflection statement about what they learnt about their skills, how they adapted their literacy for different pieces of work. Imagine the teacher who supports this ongoing learning. Or would we prefer a teacher who gets hold of the NAPLAN, demonstrates how to answer the test, the students jump through the hoops. The question is also, what kind of future do we want?
The idea of choice is also basis for continued public funding of ‘private’ schools. Yes, private school require funding, but how much, who from?
If your doctor has a wonderful support staff, creates a caring environment, goes beyond the call of duty but happens to work in an area with an ageing population, you don’t judge the doctor upon one factor, which might be a higher rate of death or age related disease.
I know why some coverage highlights school adminstrators (eg principals) are not against the national exam, principals are no longer teachers.
The AEU’s fears about misleading, damaging and demoralising league tables – while legitimate if schools are inappropriately compared – should not distract anyone from the grim reality of failing schools.
Pigs arse. To appropriately compare a school you must define a contemporary group.
How can you find a contemporary group for a school?
You would need to find schools with similar sizes, geography, socio economic status of parents, numbers, parental education, facilities, resources, parental marital status and ethnic and religious background. at least
That will give you a contemporary group of exactly 1, making comparison within the group pointless and comparison external to the group biased.
And in the end what’s the point? Don’t they understand how this very policy has disrupted Britain?
Does anyone understand what the real motive is for this policy?
Good onya Julia!
Any thoughts about challenging Krudd for leader?
As an employer I am sick and tired of these irrelevant documents coming from schools measuring their students academic merit (or lack thereof)!
No-one fails anymore because they are afraid of telling the truth and letting the milk cow (ie parents) free.