Read the latest Primary Matters
31 March 2016 A new edition of Primary Matters (PDF 533 kb), ACARA's newsletter for primary school teachers, is now available.
Registration of Australian Curriculum codes
31 March 2016 ACARA has been collaborating with Education Services Australia (ESA) to register five Australian Curriculum codes with the Library of Congress.
Read more in Connections, ESA Schools Catalogue Information Service’s quarterly journal.
My School updated for 2016
24 March 2016 Today, the My School website has been updated with the latest data on around 10,000 schools across the country.
ACARA CEO, Robert Randall, says the 2016 update, which includes the results from the 2015 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, will be beneficial for parents and educators alike.
“My School provides readily accessible information about Australian schools to allow educators to share information about school achievements, with the aim of supporting and driving improvement across the nation,” Mr Randall says. “For parents, the site provides valuable information to help them make informed decisions about their child’s education”.
Watch a video featuring ACARA CEO Robert Randall.
The 2016 My School update includes:
- eight years of performance data
- 2015 school profile and population data
- 2015 NAPLAN results
- 2015 student attendance data (Semester 1 and Term 3)
- school financial information, including capital expenditure and sources of funding
- a refreshed look and feel to the website, including a review of the content.
Following the Education Council’s agreement in September 2015 for ACARA to improve the My School website, ACARA has refreshed the look and feel of My School, including:
• reducing the content on the homepage, resulting in a simplified layout, which makes it easier for visitors to identify information important to them
• simplifying the existing content from the prior ‘More information’ section
• reviewing the My School fact sheets for plain English and streamlining their content
• updating the glossary to improve clarity and readability.
“We’ve made an effort to make the site more user-friendly,” Mr Randall says. “We’ve developed animated videos to help better visually explain ICSEA (which measures the level of socio-educational advantage of a school’s students) and the purpose of the My School website in general.
“We have also simplified access to search results on the site, whilst maintaining important security measures.”
The My School website is regularly visited by parents and school educators alike, with almost 1.5 million user sessions in 2014–15 alone.
“There is no other website that provides the wealth of data available on My School, with the ability to make fair comparisons among schools with similar students,” Mr Randall says. “We know parents appreciate having this information available in one central online location, in a format that is now even easier to navigate and understand".
Visit the My School website for more information.
Schools demonstrating substantially above average gain
For the past few years, ACARA has released information on schools demonstrating substantially above average gain in their NAPLAN results as students progress from Year 3 to Year 5 and from Year 7 to Year 9. Gains of this magnitude are significant and worthy of acknowledgement.
See the methodology used for the 2016 My School release (PDF 108kb).
ACARA CEO responds to article in The Australian
22 March 2016 An article in The Australian on Friday 18 March entitled ‘Rigid curriculum fails students with special needs’ by Professor Kenneth Wiltshire raises some points regarding the development of the Australian Curriculum.
Throughout the development of the Australian Curriculum, ACARA's focus has been on developing a curriculum that describes a progression of learning and makes clear to teachers, parents, students and the wider community both what is to be taught, and the quality of learning expected of young people as they progress through school.
The curriculum sets expectations. It does not determine how the learning needs of individual students are best met. Schools and systems around Australia make these decisions on the basis of their knowledge of their students.
ACARA has worked with key stakeholders throughout Australia to provide advice to support teachers in meeting their obligations under the Disability Standards for Education 2005 and to ensure that all students with disability are able to participate in the Australian Curriculum on the same basis as their peers through rigorous, meaningful and dignified learning programs.
Later this year ACARA will publish links to the wide range of resources and advice available in states and territories specifically to support teachers in their work with students with disability.
Rather than read what some commentators have to say about the curriculum, I encourage all those interested in improving the education of young Australians to read about what is actually expected by visiting the Australian Curriculum website.
Robert Randall,
ACARA CEO
NAPLAN 2016 aligned with the Australian Curriculum
15 March 2016 This year, NAPLAN has been aligned to the Australian Curriculum: English and the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Previously, the tests were based on the Statements of learning for English and the Statements of learning for mathematics.
The best preparation for NAPLAN is to continue focusing on teaching the curriculum. The Australian Curriculum for English and mathematics has been implemented in all states and territories. It incorporates the essential learning described in the Statements of learning and provides a broader common curriculum for teaching and learning in English and mathematics for all Australian students.
While most items in the NAPLAN 2016 test will be similar to past tests, there will be some important but subtle differences in some tests.
See more information on the NAP website.
My School updated for 2016
09 March 2016 Today, the My School website has been updated with the latest data on around 10,000 schools across the country.
ACARA CEO, Robert Randall, says the 2016 update, which includes the results from the 2015 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, will be beneficial for parents and educators alike.
“My School provides readily accessible information about Australian schools to allow educators to share information about school achievements, with the aim of supporting and driving improvement across the nation,” Mr Randall says. “For parents, the site provides valuable information to help them make informed decisions about their child’s education”.
Watch a video featuring ACARA CEO Robert Randall.
The 2016 My School update includes:
• eight years of performance data
• 2015 school profile and population data
• 2015 NAPLAN results
• 2015 student attendance data (Semester 1 and Term 3)
• school financial information, including capital expenditure and sources of funding
• a refreshed look and feel to the website, including a review of the content.
Following the Education Council’s agreement in September 2015 for ACARA to improve the My School website, ACARA has refreshed the look and feel of My School, including:
• reducing the content on the homepage, resulting in a simplified layout, which makes it easier for visitors to identify information important to them
• simplifying the existing content from the prior ‘More information’ section
• reviewing the My School fact sheets for plain English and streamlining their content
• updating the glossary to improve clarity and readability.
“We’ve made an effort to make the site more user-friendly,” Mr Randall says. “We’ve developed animated videos to help better visually explain ICSEA (which measures the level of socio-educational advantage of a school’s students) and the purpose of the My School website in general.
“We have also simplified access to search results on the site, whilst maintaining important security measures.”
The My School website is regularly visited by parents and school educators alike, with almost 1.5 million user sessions in 2014–15 alone.
“There is no other website that provides the wealth of data available on My School, with the ability to make fair comparisons among schools with similar students,” Mr Randall says. “We know parents appreciate having this information available in one central online location, in a format that is now even easier to navigate and understand".
Visit the My School website for more information.
Schools demonstrating substantially above average gain
For the past few years, ACARA has released information on schools demonstrating substantially above average gain in their NAPLAN results as students progress from Year 3 to Year 5 and from Year 7 to Year 9. Gains of this magnitude are significant and worthy of acknowledgement.
See the methodology used for the 2016 My School release (PDF 108kb).