Australia’s 2024 NAPLAN results were released yesterday, benchmarking students in yYears 3, 5, 7 and 9. The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment undertaken in each state and territory to test reading, writing and numeracy.
Available for comment:
Dr Venesser Fernandes, Senior Lecturer and Associate Head of Monash’s School of Education, Culture and Society
Contact:+61 456 428 906 or media@monash.edu
- School improvement and effectiveness
- Organisational change and development in education
- Leadership and decision-making in schools
Comments attributable to Dr Fernandes:
“We must shift the focus from a ‘league of tables’ deficit narrative to using this data at school and regional level for place-based improvement strategies that look at the needs of a cohort of students and provide the infrastructure to support them, their schools and their community through active, local-level improvement processes.
“Using participatory, community-based improvement strategies that look at a school both individually and as a part of its community, and then helps it to set out its improvement, is a sensible way in which we can build improvement as it’s needed. Partnering with parents and community will help to turn around these learning deficits that are deep-seated and ingrained within some parts of Australia and across certain communities.
“With this kind of proactive mindset, the NAPLAN results become a series of litmus tests to see if we are indeed moving in the right direction or not. This then puts the onus on systems, not just on schools, to develop stronger improvement strategies. It also paves the way for community support systems that can assist in the turnaround of student learning and achievement.”
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