The Minister for Education, Yvette Berry, has slammed the Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority (ACARA)’s release of NAPLAN data comparisons on the MySchool website, saying the information was flawed for the ACT.
“The data reported for the ACT does not present a reliable indicator of NAPLAN performance in the ACT,” Ms Berry said.
“This is because of flaws in a new method for comparing the actual performance of a school with a statistical prediction of how the school should have performed in NAPLAN.”
She said ACARA’s new method for benchmarking school NAPLAN results predicted the score that a student could have achieved in NAPLAN based on four factors – parent job titles and highest level of education, as well as the remoteness of the school and the percentage of Indigenous students enrolled.
She said the average of predicted student scores for a school indicated the “expected” school performance, which was then compared with the actual average school score.
“The method for predicting student scores does not work in the ACT,” Ms Berry said.
“The ACT has a predominately Public Service workforce where many people hold the job title ‘manager’ across a range of employment classifications.”
She said 65 per cent of ACT students had a parent with a bachelor’s degree or above, compared to the national average of 35 per cent.
“These two factors together artificially increase predicted NAPLAN scores,” Ms Berry said.
“Comparing the predicted and actual scores results in a large difference that falsely suggests underperformance of ACT schools, both Government and non-government,” she said.
“There is also a problem with establishing meaningful statistical prediction for the ACT because of the relatively small number of schools and students.”
Ms Berry said ACARA, along with other States and Territories and education data experts agreed that there were anomalies in the ACT data.
“With the support of all States and Territories and the Federal Government, ACARA will seek expert advice to review the approach adopted for NAPLAN comparisons this year,” Ms Berry said.
“Until this review is completed and the flaws corrected the comparisons cannot be relied on as a measure of the ACT’s NAPLAN performance.”
