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Victorian principals will soon get a new online toolkit to help track and compare student performance in literacy and numeracy.
The dashboards, which form part of the state government’s new strategy to help teachers identify areas of improvement in student learning, include detailed information about schools based on students’ NAPLAN results.
On average, the literacy levels of 15-year-old students in Victoria are more than half a year behind students in Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Finland – a trend the state’s education department is determined to reverse.
Victorian Education Minister, James Merlino, said strong literacy and numeracy skills are essential for students “to get the best out of themselves”.
“That's why we've been working closely with principals, teachers, students and education experts to develop this comprehensive strategy,” he said.
Judy Crowe, president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals (VASSP), said sometimes it is confusing for schools to work out which literacy and numeracy strategies are going to be the most effective.
“There are a lot of commercial players and it is an area where there are commercial interests at stake,” Crowe told The Age.
“I think this state is ready to move and see some results.”
Elsewhere in Australia, action is being taken to address a decline in students’ literacy and numeracy outcomes, as portrayed in the global PISA and TIMSS reports.
In NSW last month, students sat the NAPLAN tests in reading, writing and numeracy under challenging new benchmarks established under the NSW Government’s Stronger HSC Standards in 2016.
The HSC minimum standard – which students will be required to meet in order to receive the HSC from 2020 – is now set at a level of literacy and numeracy that will support students in meeting the academic requirements of their HSC subjects, and day-to-day life after school.
Under the changes, most students will demonstrate the minimum standard by passing new, short online reading, writing and numeracy tests in the lead up to the HSC.