| A |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) status |
A student is classified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, based on information provided by the student, or their parent or guardian, on the school enrolment form. The term ‘origin’ is considered to relate to people’s Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identity.
In some ACARA materials, the terms Indigenous status or Indigeneity are also used. |
| ABS remoteness |
The ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Remoteness Structure is based on the locality of individual schools and is used to disaggregate data according to Major Cities of Australia, Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia and Very Remote Australia.
A map, showing the location of these areas, is available on the ABS website. |
| Absent (NAPLAN) |
Students who did not sit a NAPLAN test because they were not present at school when the test was administered or were unable to sit the test as a result of an accident or mishap. These students are not awarded a score for the test or tests that were missed. |
| ACARA |
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority – independent authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, a national assessment program and a national data collection and reporting program. |
| Accrual accounting |
A recording method in which revenues, expenses, lending and borrowing are recorded as they are earned, accrued or incurred regardless of when payment is made or received. |
| Alternative format (paper) tests |
NAPLAN alternative format (paper) tests are provided for the Year 3 writing test, and for all domains for schools with a TAA-approved alternative curriculum, where technology is not introduced until Year 5 or above. |
| Alternative format (special print) tests |
Alternative format (special print) tests refer to hard copy braille, large print, black-and-white tests and electronic PDF NAPLAN tests. |
| Alternative format tests |
NAPLAN tests provided in a format outside the Assessment Platform, either as a paper test (e.g. Year 3 writing tests) or as a special print paper test (e.g. braille tests). All alternative format tests, apart from Year 3 writing tests, require approval from the relevant test administration authority. |
| Apparent retention rate |
An indicative measure of student progression through secondary school. It is a measure of the proportion of full-time school students who have stayed at school from one year to another. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of students in a year group (cohort) in one calendar year by the number of students in the same cohort in a previous calendar year. For example, an apparent retention rate from Year 10 to 12 in 2021 measures the percentage of Year 10 students in 2019 that continued to Year 12 in 2021.
From 2015 onwards, the ABS has released rates tables in 2 formats: one with rates exceeding 100% capped to a maximum value of 100.0 (capped), and one where rates exceeding 100% continue to be reported as the raw calculated value (uncapped). This report continues to report uncapped rates for apparent retention. See Schools, Australia explanatory notes for further information. |
| Assessed (NAPLAN) |
Students who were present for the NAPLAN writing test or who responded to at least one item in the non-writing tests. |
| Assessment contractor |
The organisation administering a particular NAP test. An assessment contractor may be responsible for some or all aspects of the preparation, distribution and collection of student tests, the linking of test results with student background characteristics, the analysis of results or the preparation of reports. (May also be referred to as a ‘testing agent’.) |
| Assessment framework |
A clear definition of the scope and method of testing for each NAP assessment. Assessment frameworks for NAPLAN and each of the 3 NAP sample domains are published on the NAP website. |
| Australian Government capital expenditure |
The amount of capital expenditure funded by the Australian Government. |
| Australian Government recurrent funding |
Income sourced from funding provided by the Australian Government for recurrent purposes. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) |
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is the comprehensive national framework of qualifications in the school, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors. Qualifications within the AQF include:
• senior secondary certificates of education issued by state and territory school curriculum, assessment and certification authorities to students meeting requirements on completion of Year 12
• VET qualifications at various certificate and diploma levels delivered by TAFE and other registered training organisations (RTOs)
• higher education diplomas and degrees provided through Australian universities and other educational institutions. |
| Australian schools' average |
The average of all scores of Australian students in each year level for each NAPLAN test domain. Also called ‘the national average’. |
| Average |
In statistics, the ‘average’ of a set of data is a measure of the central tendency of a set. There are different statistical measurements that can be used to depict central tendency of the set.
The My School website refers to an average of a set in two ways: In measuring student performance results and progress in a NAPLAN test, the arithmetic mean is used to represent student group averages. NAPLAN result averages are depicted for student year levels, whole schools, and the national student population.
The mean is used because the range of individual students' results is not very large and is fairly evenly spread.
In using the index of community socio-educational advantage (ICSEA) calculation to describe school populations on the website, the median ICSEA value for all schools is set at 1,000. This represents the 'middle ground' of educational advantage levels among Australian school students. The median is used because the ICSEA values of all schools are unevenly spread, reflecting a great diversity of student populations across Australia. |
| Average age |
The average age of students is calculated from the dates of birth provided by each state/territory. |
| Average NAPLAN score |
NAPLAN results are reported both as scale scores and proficiency levels. NAPLAN national results and My School report the average NAPLAN scale scores for specified group/s of students. |
| B |
| Bachelor degree and above |
Includes Postgraduate Degree, Masters Degree, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate, Bachelor Degree (with Honours) and Bachelor Degree. |
| Band (NAPLAN) |
Between 2008 and 2022, the NAPLAN measurement scale for each assessment area was divided into 10 bands used to report student progress through Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Band 1 was the lowest band and band 10 the highest. Each band contained a range of scores and was not a specific point. From 2023 student achievement is reported using proficiency levels. |
| Base year |
The first year of data collection for the purposes of time series comparisons. For NAPLAN, a new time series started in 2023. Prior to this, the writing base year was 2011 and for all other NAPLAN domains was 2008. |
| Below reporting threshold |
A school’s results are not reported on My School when there are fewer than five students with NAPLAN results and attendance rates. This rule is applied for reasons of statistical reliability, as well as to protect the privacy of students in small schools. This also applies to socio-educational advantage (SEA) data. |
| C |
| Capital expenditure |
Expenditure incurred by a school, or on behalf of a school by the school system (where appropriate) to buy or improve assets such as equipment and property. |
| Capital project |
A capital project is a long-term, capital-intensive investment to build upon, add to, or improve a capital asset (e.g. renovating classrooms, or constructing a new library). |
| Capital works |
Capital works are large-scale, long-term investment projects that involve the construction, expansion, renovation, or replacement of physical assets. |
| Census of Population and Housing |
Australia’s largest statistical collection, undertaken by the ABS. The Census of Population and Housing is conducted every 5 years. The aim of the census is to accurately collect data on the key characteristics of people in Australia on census night, and the dwellings in which they live. |
| Certificate I to IV (including trade certificate) |
The AQF levels comprises 10 levels, ranging from certificates to doctoral degrees. Vocational education and training is offered at AQF levels 1 to 8 and higher education ranges from AQF Levels 5 to 10. The AQF levels criteria are an indication of the relative complexity and/or depth of achievement and the autonomy required to demonstrate that achievement. AQF level 1 has the lowest complexity and AQF level 10 has the highest complexity.
The Certificate I to IV category includes Certificate I, Certificate II, Certificate III, Certificate IV, Trade Certificate, Advanced Certificate, Apprenticeship Certificate, Traineeship Certificate |
| Cohort |
A cohort is a group of people who share a common feature or aspect of behavior. It can refer to a statistical factor such as age or year level. |
| Cohort gain (NAPLAN) |
In NAPLAN national results, cohort gain refers to the difference in an aggregated group of students’ achievement levels between 2 testing years. Please note, the same set of students is not identified when measuring cohort gain. My School reports NAPLAN results at a school level using the term student progress, which is different. |
| Combined school |
A school that has classes from both primary and secondary year levels. |
| Common scale |
When 2 or more tests are equated, the difficulties of test items and student performances can be measured on the same (common) scale. This enables direct comparison of test performances between year groups and calendar years. |
| Confidence interval |
An indication of the statistical uncertainty to expect when estimating population parameters using statistics from a sample (e.g. a sample mean score). NAP results reported are subject to different kinds of statistical uncertainty, including variation caused by measurement and sampling error. The level of variation can be estimated and is used to create a confidence interval around the results. |
| Correlation coefficient |
An indicator of the extent to which 2 variables vary together. A positive correlation coefficient suggests that as the scores for one variable increase, so do the scores of the other variable; and a negative correlation coefficient suggests that as one set of scores increases, the other decreases. |
| Course enrolment (VET) |
Student enrolment in an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) vocational education and training (VET) qualification or course in a reported year. |
| Criterion variable |
A variable that is predicted from a combination of other variables after a statistical analysis has taken place. It is sometimes referred to as a dependent variable. |
| D |
| Data collection entity |
Any agency/agent/entity which has the authority to collect data on student background characteristics. |
| Disability adjustments (NAPLAN) |
Adjustments intended to allow students with disability to participate in and access NAPLAN tests on an equivalent basis to students without disability, while upholding the integrity of the testing process. |
| Domain |
A domain is the term used to describe a subject or learning area that is the focus of a test. The 4 domains tested in NAPLAN are reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation), and numeracy. These are called test domains. There are 3 domains for NAP sample assessments: civics and citizenship, information and communications technology literacy, and science literacy. |
| E |
| Effect size |
Effect size is a measure for quantifying the difference in achievement between 2 groups or the same group over time. Effect size measures complement statistical tests (which examine whether the difference is likely to be caused by chance) and focus on the magnitude of the difference. |
| Equating |
The process by which 2 or more tests are placed on the same measurement scale. This is so student performances and item (question) difficulties can be compared directly. |
| Estimated resident population (ERP) |
The estimated resident population (ERP) is used as a denominator to calculate students as a proportion of the population. The ERP is an estimate of the population of Australia, based on data from the Census of Population and Housing, updated quarterly using information on births, deaths, and overseas and interstate migration. For further details see ABS, National, state and territory population. |
| Exempt (NAPLAN and NAP sample) |
All students should have an opportunity to participate in testing, but eligible students may be exempted following consultation between the school and parent/carer. Eligible students include those with a language background other than English, who arrived from overseas less than a year before the test window/s, and students with significant intellectual disabilities or significant coexisting conditions.
For NAPLAN, exempt students are not included when calculating the average score for a school. Students who meet the criteria for exemption but participate in testing will be counted as assessed students with the score that they achieved. |
| F |
| Fees, charges and parent contribution |
Income received from parents for the delivery of education services to students. |
| Full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolments |
A full-time student is one who undertakes a prescribed workload for a full-time student of a particular year level. This may vary between states and territories, and between year levels. A full-time enrolment is counted as 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolment. A part-time enrolment is represented as a proportion of the full-time enrolment. For example, a half-time enrolment is 0.5 FTE.
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolments reported in the financial data may be different to the number of FTE enrolments shown on the school profile page for some schools, where, for example, financial data include funding for preschool students who are not included in the student enrolment number.
Student–teacher ratios are calculated by dividing the FTE student number by the FTE teaching staff number. They are an indicator of the level of staffing resources used and should not be used as a measure of class size. They do not include teacher aides and other non-teaching staff who may also assist in the delivery of school education. |
| Full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching staff |
The full-time equivalent (FTE) value of teaching staff is a measure of the level of staffing resources of a school. Staff who are employed full time and engaged solely on activities that fall within the scope of the NSSC have an FTE value of 1.0. All FTE values are rounded to one decimal place.
For staff not employed on a full-time basis, and/or engaged in a combination of in-scope and out-of-scope activities, the FTE value is calculated on the basis of the proportion of time spent on in-scope activities compared with staff who would be considered full time. The FTE value of teaching staff is calculated by adding the number of full-time teaching staff and the FTE value of part-time teaching staff. |
| G |
| Gender |
Although sex and gender are conceptually distinct, these terms are commonly used interchangeably, including in legislation. All government education systems now collect data
on student gender at enrolment.
The preferred Australian Government approach is to collect and use gender.
In line with the ABS, ACARA's data collection for gender has been broadened to collect responses other than male/female, but reporting is currently limited to male/female as the number of students using the additional responses is too small to be reported while meeting privacy requirements. |
| Government sector |
Schools that are operated by a state or territory government. |
| Gross |
The total amount before any deductions (e.g. gross income is the amount of income before tax or any other deductions have been subtracted). |
| H |
| I |
| ICSEA Percentile |
ICSEA percentile is a measure to help users understand how educationally advantaged a school is. An ICSEA percentile of 40 means that the school you have selected is more educationally advantaged than 40% of all schools in Australia (and more educationally disadvantaged than 60% of all schools in Australia). |
| Income allocated to current capital projects |
Net income: the remaining income after deductions are subtracted. |
| Income allocated to debt servicing (including principal repayments and interest on loans) |
The amount of gross income that has been allocated to service capital loans. |
| Income allocated to future capital projects and diocesan capital funds |
The amount of gross income received by a school, which has been allocated to a future capital project. |
| Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) |
The index of community socio-educational advantage (ICSEA) was created by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) specifically to enable meaningful comparisons of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test achievement by students in schools across Australia.
ICSEA provides a scale that numerically represents the relative magnitude of this influence and is constructed taking into account both student- and school-level factors. ICSEA is set at a median of 1000 and a standard deviation of 100. The lower the ICSEA value, the lower the level of educational advantage of students who go to this school. Similarly, the higher the ICSEA value, the higher the level of educational advantage of students who go to this school.
Key factors in students' family backgrounds (parents' occupation, school education and non-school education) have an influence on students' educational outcomes at school. In addition to these student-level factors, research has shown that school-level factors (a school's geographical location and the proportion of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students a school caters for) need to be considered when summarising educational advantage or disadvantage at the school level.
ICSEA should be interpreted with the assistance of About ICSEA fact sheet (PDF 291 kb) and the Guide to understanding ICSEA values (PDF 534 kb).
|
| Industry area |
Broad field of education as per the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED). |
| Item |
A test item is a test question. |
| J |
| Jurisdiction |
One of the 8 states and territories of Australia. For NAP administration and reporting, a jurisdiction includes all 3 educational sectors (government, Catholic and independent) that sit within an Australian state or territory. The jurisdiction level is the most granular level of analysis undertaken for national reporting of NAPLAN and NAP sample assessments. |
| K |
| L |
| Language background other than English (LBOTE) |
If the student or either parent speaks a language other than English at home, they are identified as LBOTE for My School reporting calculations. From 2015 onwards, the LBOTE percentage reported on My School is the proportion of all LBOTE students within a school's population (where available) as derived from student background data collected. Please note: some schools report high levels of unknown/not-stated language codes in their student background data, which can result in an inflated/deflated calculation. |
| Likert-type items |
Items to which respondents are required to select one of several categories (e.g. ‘strongly disagree’, ‘disagree’, ‘agree’, ‘strongly agree’) to indicate their intensity of response to the item. |
| Link items |
Questions that appear in more than one test and used for common-item equating. Link items can be ‘vertical’ (e.g. same items across years 3 and 5 reading tests in the same calendar year) or 'horizontal' (e.g. same items in year 3 reading tests administered across calendar years). Horizontal link items are also called trend items. |
| Local schools |
Schools that are located within 80 kilometres of the selected school. On My School, up to 20 schools are listed by distance, with those nearest to the selected school listed first. Schools that are in remote or very remote locations may have fewer local schools. Distances between schools are calculated by determining the geographic location of each school, in terms of its latitude and longitude, on the basis of its address. 'Nearest' schools can be identified from their latitude and longitude information. The actual distance between schools is calculated by a formula determining the distance between two geographic points. Consequently, distances between schools are calculated 'as a crow flies', and are not based on distance by road. |
| M |
| Marking rubric |
The set of criteria against which student responses in the writing test or responses to text-entry items are scored. |
| Matched students |
Students who sat two consecutive NAPLAN tests at the same school and have results at two year levels. |
| Mean |
The average result in an analysed data set. |
| Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia (MFSA) |
The Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia 2020 (MFSA), as agreed by education ministers, provides the basis for national reporting on the performance of schooling in 2020, and is the main focus of the statistical data included in this report.
The measurement framework defines national key performance measures (KPMs) for schooling, specifies the data sources for these KPMs and outlines the reporting cycle for the period 2020–2023. The framework is maintained by ACARA on behalf of education ministers and is published on the ACARA website. It is periodically revised by ACARA in consultation with jurisdictions and sectors. |
| N |
| NAP |
The National Assessment Program (NAP) comprises a suite of national and international assessments which provide nationally comparable data on student achievement in literacy, numeracy, science, civics and citizenship and ICT. For more information on NAP, visit the NAP website. |
| NAP sample assessments |
The National Assessment Program (NAP) sample assessments test students’ skills and understanding in science literacy, civics and citizenship and information and communication technology (ICT) literacy. Only selected samples of students in Years 6 and 10 participate in these sample assessments, which are held on a rolling three-yearly basis. |
| NAPLAN |
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. All students in these year levels are expected to participate in NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. For more information on NAPLAN, visit the NAP website. |
| National Assessment Program (NAP) |
The National Assessment Program (NAP), as specified in the Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia 2020, encompasses all assessments endorsed by education ministers for participation by students nationally:
• NAPLAN – annual, full student cohort literacy and numeracy assessments in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9
• NAP sample assessments – triennial domestic sample student population assessments in Years 6 and 10 in Science Literacy, ICT Literacy and Civics and Citizenship
• Australia’s participation in international sample student population assessments: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).
ACARA is delegated to manage the development and oversee the delivery of assessments and reporting for NAPLAN, and for domestic NAP sample assessments, as directed by education ministers. PISA is conducted by the OECD. TIMSS and PIRLS are conducted by the IEA. |
| National minimum standard |
National minimum standards were used in NAPLAN between 2008 and 2022 to represent minimum performance standards in literacy and numeracy for a given year level, below which students would have difficulty progressing satisfactorily at school. From 2023, national minimum standards have been replaced with proficiency levels. |
| National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) |
The scope of the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) consists of all ‘establishments’ that have as their major activity the administration or provision of full-time day primary, secondary and/or special education, or primary or secondary education by distance education. The statistics in the NSSC do not include students engaged in school-level education conducted by other institutions; in particular, TAFE, except where this is part of a school program, such as VET delivered to secondary students.
The NSSC consists of government and non-government statistics. Government statistics comprise all establishments (as defined) administered by departments of education under directors-general of education (or equivalent) in each state or territory. Non-government statistics comprise all such establishments not administered by departments of education.
The 2 sections of the NSSC are: non-finance statistics (numbers of schools, students and staff) collected for government and non-government schools and published by the ABS in its annual Schools, Australia publication finance statistics (expenditure on salaries and non-salary costs) collected for government school systems only, and published in this report and in the National Report on Schooling data portal. |
| Nature of the difference |
The nature of the difference is an effect size measure. It helps interpreting the results by comparing the magnitude of a significant difference with an effect size criterion, resulting in a label for the size of the difference. The nature of the difference is reported as follows for comparisons with the previous year or the base year: substantially above/below refers to a difference that is statistically significant and substantial in size above/below refers to a difference that is statistically significant and small in size close to refers to differences that are not statistically significant differences or negligible in size. |
| Net |
The amount after any deductions (e.g. net income is the amount of income after tax and any other deductions have been subtracted). |
| Net recurrent income |
The amount of income received by a school from the Australian Government, and state or territory government, plus fees, charges, parent contributions and other private sources, which is available for expenditure relating to the ongoing costs of schools. |
| New school loans |
The amount of capital expenditure funded by capital loan draw-downs in the current year being reported. |
| Non-attempt (NAPLAN) |
A NAPLAN non-attempt is a student who was present but either refused to sit the test or (for non-writing domains) sat the test but did not provide sufficient information to estimate an achievement score. |
| Non-government sector |
For the My School website, Australia's schools are divided into two sectors: government and non-government. Schools from the non-government sector operate under the authority of state or territory governments but are not operated by government education departments. Schools from the non-government sector may operate as individual schools, in small groups or as a system such as those coordinated by the Catholic Education Commission in each state and territory. |
| Non-teaching staff |
A member of a school who supports the school by providing educational services but does not directly teach students. Non-teaching staff can be engaged at one or more schools and includes specialist support staff, such as counsellors, teachers’ aides and assistants, administrative and clerical staff, building operations, general maintenance and other service staff. For government schools, this information is provided by a school's state or territory jurisdiction, so the number on My School includes only non-teaching staff employed by the jurisdiction. |
| O |
| Opportunity cost |
Opportunity costs represent the potential benefits that would be missed out on when choosing one alternative (e.g. investments in capital projects in schools) over another. |
| Other capital expenditure |
The amount of capital expenditure funded through other private sources, including retained earnings from previous years. |
| Other private sources |
Income received from other sources – donations, interest on bank accounts, profits on trading activities and profits from sale of assets. It includes some private income received for capital purposes and from school and community fundraising activities. |
| P |
| Parental education |
Parental education represents the highest level of parental school or non-school education that a parent/carer has completed. This includes the highest level of primary or secondary school completed or the highest post-school qualification attained. The higher level of school or non-school education that either parent/carer has completed is reported. Certificate I to IV includes Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) trade certificates. |
| Parental non-school education |
The highest qualification attained by a parent/guardian/carer in any area of study other than school education. |
| Parental occupation |
Parental occupation represents the occupation group that best represents the main work undertaken by the parent/carer. If a parent/carer has more than one job, the occupation group that reflects their main job is reported.
The higher occupational group of either parent/carer is reported.
For the purposes of national reporting, a parent/guardian/carer’s work is classified into one of four groups:
• Group 1: Elected officials, senior executives/manager, management in large business organisation, government administration and defence, and qualified professionals
• Group 2: Other business managers/professionals and associate professionals
• Group 3: Tradespeople and advanced/intermediate clerical, office, sales, carer and service staff
• Group 4: Machine operators, sales/office/service/hospitality staff, assistants, labourers and related workers. |
| Parental school education |
The highest year of school education a parent/guardian/carer has completed. |
| Participant (NAPLAN) |
For NAPLAN, participating students include assessed students, non-attempts and exempt students. |
| Participation rate (NAPLAN) |
NAPLAN participation rates are calculated as participants as a percentage of the total number of enrolled students in the year level, as reported by the schools. As per the Key Performance Measure on the Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia, the NAPLAN participation rate is the proportion of all Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students who participated in at least one NAPLAN test. |
| Permissible data element values |
Listing of all codes represented in the classification relevant to the data element. |
| Per-student income |
Income received (from all sources) divided by the count of enrolled students. |
| PIRLS |
The IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assesses a sample of Year 4 students every five years. |
| PISA |
The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses the reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of a sample of 15-year-old students every three years |
| Post-school destinations |
A measure of the main activity of students who finished school. Post-school destinations include graduating year students who gained university placements, engaged in TAFE/vocational study or commenced employment.
Only senior secondary schools from Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia (government schools only) and ACT (government schools only) report this measure.
This measure has a large degree of variation between states and territories, since data are derived from separate surveys conducted by some of the states and territories, and as such, the data should not be compared outside the state or territory in which the data are collected.
The proportion of students that answered ‘Other’ are not reported under 'Post-school destinations'. As a result, percentages may not add up to 100. Note that Western Australia did not participate in this survey for 2014. |
| Primary |
Primary schools start with pre-Year 1 and finish with Year 6. Year 7 became part of secondary education from 2015in Queensland and WA, and from 2022 in SA. |
| Proficiency level (NAPLAN and NAP sample) |
A defined range on the measurement scale that describes the knowledge and competencies that students at that level are likely to be able to demonstrate. NAP results are reported on a separate measurement scale for each domain or assessment area. |
| Proficient standard (NAP sample assessments) |
In NAP sample assessments, a proficient standard is the standard in each of the assessments that represents a reasonably challenging level of performance where students need to show more than the minimal skills expected at that year level. |
| Progress |
The difference in the same students’ NAPLAN scale scores between 2 testing years in the same test domain within a school. The same students are matched via anonymised student identifiers to ensure they were at the same school 2 years prior and are excluded if not. This is displayed on My School as Student progress graphs.
At an aggregate level, such as NAPLAN national results, the term cohort gain is used, which is a different construct. |
| Psychometrician |
A psychometrician is a person practising any or all aspects of psychometrics. Psychometrics is an area of statistics concerned with educational and psychological measurement. This includes the construction of tests, construction of measurement scales and the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement. |
| Q |
| Qualification level |
Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) vocational education and training (VET) qualification level as specified (diploma or higher, Certificate IV, Certificate III, Certificate II, Certificate I, other). 'Other' includes education not classified elsewhere, statements of attainment not identifiable by level, bridging and enabling courses, plus other courses that do not lead to a qualification under the AQF. |
| Qualifications completed |
An Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualification is a formal certification that a graduate has achieved as described in the AQF. |
| Quarters |
The four socio-educational advantage (SEA) quarters, represent a scale of relative disadvantage (bottom quarter) through to relative advantage (top quarter). These quarters are calculated using only the student-level factors of educational advantage. SEA quarters give contextual information about the socio-educational composition of students in the school. |
| Question module |
The exact wording of question and response categories to be included on the enrolment or special data collection form. |
| R |
| Rasch model |
A mathematical model developed to analyse data and responses from assessments such as the NAP tests. It enables student abilities and item (question) difficulties to be placed on the same scale. It is particularly efficient for equating tests. |
| Raw score |
The raw score on a given test is the number of marks obtained on that test. |
| Recurrent income |
Income received by a school, which is available for expenditure relating to ongoing operating costs of the school (for example, teaching and non-teaching staff salaries, school operating costs). |
| Refusal (NAPLAN) |
Students who were present but did not log in and were deemed by the test administrator as refusing to take the test. |
| Response rate |
Response rates are the percentages of sampled students that participated in the assessment. Response rates are calculated as the number of assessed students from whom data were recorded as a percentage of the total number of sampled students in the year level. |
| S |
| Sample |
A subset of a population selected so that reliable and unbiased estimates of statistics for the full population can be inferred. |
| Sample testing |
Testing a portion of the population rather than testing the entire population. It is a relatively efficient method of obtaining general information about the performance of a population without having to test all members of the population. |
| Scale score |
Scale scores are a representation of students’ raw scores that have been converted and placed on a consistent and standardised scale.
There are three scales for NAP sample, one for each test domain.
There are five scales for NAPLAN, one each for reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. |
| School |
A school is an education establishment that satisfies all the following criteria: Its major activity is the provision of full-time day primary or secondary education or the provision of primary or secondary distance education. It is headed by a principal (or equivalent) responsible for its internal operation. It is possible for students to enrol and be active in a course of study for a minimum of 4 continuous weeks, excluding breaks for school vacations.
The term ‘school’ includes schools in institutions and hospitals, mission schools and similar establishments. The term ‘school’ in this publication excludes preschools, early learning or long day care centres, senior technical and agricultural colleges, evening schools, continuation classes and institutions such as business or coaching colleges. Multi-campus arrangements are counted as one school. Changes to school counts in this publication can occur when multiple schools amalgamate into a single multi-campus school, or multi-campus schools divide into separate schools. |
| School comment provided by schools on the My School Principals' Portal and published on the School Profile page. |
| School level and school year |
All states and territories provide for 13 years of formal school education. Typically, schooling commences at age 5, is compulsory from age 6 until at least the completion of Year 10 and is completed at age 17 or 18.
For national reporting purposes, primary education comprises a Foundation year followed by Years 1–6. Junior secondary education includes the years from commencement of secondary schooling to Year 10, including ungraded secondary.
Senior secondary education comprises Years 11 and 12 in all states and territories. Students attending special schools are allocated to either primary or secondary education on the basis of school year or school level, where identified.
Where a school year or school level is not identified, students are allocated to primary or secondary level of education according to the typical age level in each state or territory. Ungraded students (ungraded primary and ungraded secondary) are those who have not been placed in a specific year level. |
| School name |
The registered school name as provided to ACARA by the applicable school registration authority at a point in time when the data was last collected and reported on My School. For the most up to date list of registered school names visit the Australian Schools List website. |
| School sector |
The National Report on Schooling and its data portal use the term ‘school sector’ to distinguish between government schools, which are established and administered by state and territory governments through their education departments, and non-government schools, usually with some religious affiliation, which are established and operated under conditions determined by state and territory governments through their registration authorities.
‘School sector’ is also used to further distinguish between non-government schools as Catholic or independent. Catholic schools make up the largest group of non-government schools. Independent schools may be associated with other religions, other denominations, particular educational philosophies, or operate as single entities.
ABS Schools, uses the term ‘affiliation’ rather than ‘school sector’ to make these distinctions. A further distinction is sometimes made between systemic and non-systemic non-government schools. Systemic schools are formally affiliated with a group or system of schools. Non-systemic non-government schools do not belong to a system. In the National Report on Schooling in Australia, Catholic systemic and non-systemic schools are counted as ‘Catholic’.
On the My School website, school sector differentiates between government and non-government schools. Additional information on the affiliation of non-government schools may be available in the ‘School comments’ and 'Sector, system or association website' provided by the school. |
| School type |
Categories used in tables and graphs showing ‘school type’ are:
• ‘primary’ – school delivers primary education
• ‘secondary’ – school delivers secondary education
• ‘combined’ – school delivers primary and secondary education
• ‘special’ – Special purpose schools cater for students with physical or intellectual disabilities, autism or social/emotional disturbance, or who are in custody, on remand or in hospital, and may include primary students, secondary students, ungraded students or a combination of primary, secondary and ungraded students. |
| School-based apprenticeships and traineeships |
Legal and/or contractual arrangements that allow students to undertake a part-time apprenticeship or traineeship while still at school. Students can combine paid part-time employment with training towards a nationally accredited vocational education and training (VET) qualification under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and other school studies. Depending on their pattern of study in the senior secondary certificate, students may be eligible for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). |
| Secondary |
Secondary schooling starts in Year 7 in all states. Junior secondary education includes the years from commencement of secondary schooling to Year 10, including ungraded secondary.
Senior secondary education comprises Years 11 and 12 in all states and territories.
Year 7 became part of secondary education from 2015 in Queensland and WA, and from 2022 in SA. |
| Sector |
The 3 educational sectors of government, Catholic and independent. All schools throughout Australia belong to one of these 3 school sectors. |
| Senior secondary certificate of education |
Senior secondary certificates of education (SSCEs) are Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications issued by the curriculum, assessment and certification authority in each state and territory to students meeting the requirements for successful completion of secondary schooling. These have different titles in each jurisdiction:
• New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC)
• Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL)
• Queensland Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE)
• South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE)
• Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE)
• Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE)
• Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET)
• Australian Capital Territory Senior Secondary Certificate (ACTSSC) |
| Senior secondary outcomes |
Senior secondary outcomes reflect the following key areas of student achievement:
• awarding of senior secondary certificate of education
• completion of senior secondary school.
Data on senior secondary outcomes are provided to ACARA by state and territory curriculum, assessment and certification authorities.
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| Significant |
The term significant refers only to differences that are statistically significant. Once a difference has been identified as statistically significant, the size of this difference (ranging from a small to very large effect size) can be considered. |
| Significant difference |
This refers to the likelihood of a difference being a true reflection of the measured outcomes rather than the result of chance. |
| Similar background |
Students have a similar background as determined by parental occupation and education. The background of students has been shown to have an impact on NAP results. |
| Socio-education background – education |
The indicator derived from the parental school and parental non-school education for both parents/guardians/carers. The indicator is based on the higher educational attainment of the two parents/guardians/carers. |
| Socio-education background – occupation |
The indicator derived from the parental occupation group of both parents/guardians/carers. The indicator is based on the higher occupation group of the two parents/guardians/carers. |
| Socio-educational advantage (SEA) quarters |
The four socio-educational advantage (SEA) quarters, represent a scale of relative disadvantage (bottom quarter) through to relative advantage (top quarter). These quarters are calculated using only the student-level factors of educational advantage.
SEA quarters give contextual information about the socio-educational composition of students in the school. No SEA quarter information is displayed when there is insufficient information in the parent background variables to calculate a quartile distribution.
On the ‘School profile’ page of My School, the table presented alongside the school ICSEA value shows the distribution of students in the school in each SEA quartile. |
| Special school |
A special school satisfies the definition of a school and requires one or more of the following characteristics to be exhibited by a student before enrolment is allowed:
• mental or physical disability or impairment
• slow learning ability
• social or emotional problems
• in custody, on remand or in hospital.
Special schools include special assistance schools, as defined under the Australian Education Act 2013. These are non-government schools that are recognised by the state minister as a special assistance school and primarily established to cater for students with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties. |
| Staff |
Staff are people engaged in the administration and/or provision of day primary, secondary or special school education, or primary or secondary education by distance education at in-scope education establishments.
The functional categories for school staff are as follows:
• Teaching staff are employees who spend the majority of their time in contact with students. They support students either by direct class contact or on an individual basis and are engaged to impart school curriculum. For the purposes of this report, teaching staff includes principals, deputy principals, campus principals and senior teachers mainly involved in administration.
• Specialist support staff are employees who perform functions to support students or teaching staff. While these staff may spend most of their time in contact with students, they are not employed or engaged to impart the school curriculum.
• Administrative and clerical staff are employees whose main duties are generally clerical or administrative. Teacher aides and assistants are included in this category, as they are seen to provide services to teaching staff rather than directly to students.
• Building operations, general maintenance and other staff are employees involved in the maintenance of buildings and grounds. Also included are staff providing associated technical services, other janitorial staff and staff who service equipment. School cleaners, whether salaried or employed on contract, are excluded.
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| Standard deviation |
A measure of variability or dispersion in student scores from the mean (or average). That is, how ‘spread out’ the results are from the average result. The larger the standard deviation, the more spread out the values are. Approximately 68 per cent of student results are expected to fall between minus one and plus one standard deviation around the mean. |
| State and territory government capital expenditure |
The amount of capital expenditure funded by state and territory governments. |
| State and territory government recurrent funding |
School income sourced from funding provided by state and territory governments for recurrent purposes. |
| States and territories |
Australia has a federal system of government comprising the national government, and the governments of the 6 states and 2 territories. |
| Statistically significant |
A difference in results is statistically significant if the probability is very small (e.g. smaller than 0.05) that this difference was caused by chance. |
| Student |
A student is a person who, on the NSSC census date, is formally enrolled at a school and is active in a primary, secondary and/or special education program at that school.
Students may be enrolled at more than one school; however, jurisdictions employ strategies that ensure that, as far as possible, students are reported only once in this collection.
Students not present at a school on the NSSC census date are included as students if they were expected to be absent for less than four continuous weeks (excluding school vacations).
School students undertaking VET (including through TAFE), school-based apprenticeships or traineeships, work placements or tertiary extension studies as a part of the student’s school enrolment are in scope for the NSSC. The workload of these subjects or programs (which may take place outside the school premises) is included in a student’s aggregate workload to determine whether a student is classified as full-time or part-time, and in calculating the FTE for part-time students. |
| Student attendance |
The National Student Attendance Data Collection is conducted by ACARA for Semester 1 of each school year. Data is collected for full-time students in Years 1‒10 (including ungraded secondary). Data is provided to ACARA by state and territory education departments for government schools and by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment for non-government schools.
The attendance rate is defined as the number of actual full-time equivalent student-days attended by full-time students in Years 1–10 in Semester 1 as a percentage of the total number of possible student-days attended in Semester 1.
The attendance level is defined as the proportion of full-time students in Years 1–10 whose attendance rate in Semester 1 is equal to or greater than 90%. Specifications for the collection are provided in the National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting. |
| Student attendance |
See Attendance. |
| Student attendance level |
Student attendance level is defined as the proportion of Years 1–10 full-time students, whose attendance rate is greater than, or equal to, 90 per cent over the (reporting) period.
Student attendance level information is collected by schools and reported on My School twice yearly by Indigenous status for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) and Term 3.
For further information, please refer to the National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting (PDF 375 kb). |
| Student attendance rate |
Student attendance rate is defined as a number of actual full-time equivalent student days attended by full-time students in Years 1–10 as a percentage of the total number of possible student days attended over the (reporting) period.
The student attendance rate information is collected by schools and reported on My School twice yearly by Indigenous status for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) and Term 3.
For further information, refer to the National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting (PDF 375 kb). |
| Student background |
Student background includes gender, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status, parent school education, parent non-school education, parent occupation group and language background other than English spoken at home. |
| Student identifier |
A numeric or alphanumeric string that is used to identify a given student within a school or school system, for example, a student number. |
| Student progress (NAPLAN) |
The difference in the same student's achievement levels between 2 testing years in the same test domain within a school. |
| Substantially above/below |
The average NAPLAN achievement of students at a selected school compared to the average NAPLAN achievement of students with similar background or from all Australian students.
If a selected school's average is ‘above’ or ‘below’ the comparison school's average by more than half (>= 0.5) of one standard deviation, the difference is deemed to be substantial for the purposes of the My School website. The terms ‘above’ and ‘below’ represent a difference of between one-fifth and a half (between 0.2 and 0.5) of a standard deviation in magnitude. |
| Survey of Education and Work |
The Survey of Education and Work (SEW), conducted annually by the ABS, provides selected information on participation in education, highest educational attainment, transition from education to work, and current labour force and demographic characteristics for the population aged 15–74 years. Data from Education and Work is used to report participation and attainment data, including KPMs for schooling, in this report. |
| T |
| Teaching staff |
Staff who spend the majority of their time in contact with students either in classes or on an individual basis, and are responsible for teaching a school curriculum.
Teaching staff include principals, deputy principals and senior teachers who have administrative duties.
Teachers’ aides, teachers' assistants and specialist support staff are categorised as non-teaching staff except assistant teachers working in homeland learning centres and community schools in the Northern Territory.
On the My School website, the number of teaching staff is the head count of full-time and part-time teaching staff employed by a school for non-government schools; for government schools, it is the number of teaching staff (both full-time and part-time) assigned to a school providing educational services directly to students. For government schools, this information is provided by a school's state or territory jurisdiction, so the number on My School includes only staff employed by the jurisdiction. |
| Test administration authority (TAA) |
The education department or authority in each state or territory that is responsible for the administration of NAPLAN tests in its jurisdiction.
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| Test form |
A collection of selected items sequenced, balanced and grouped together to measure a student's knowledge, skills and understanding of a subject area. |
| Testing agent |
The organisation administering NAP tests such as NAPLAN or NAP sample assessments. (May also be referred to as ‘Test administration authority’ or ‘Assessment contractor’ or 'data collection entity'.)
A testing agent may be responsible for some or all aspects of the preparation, distribution and collection of student tests, the linking of test results with student background characteristics, the analysis of results or the preparation of reports. |
| TIMSS |
The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), assesses a sample of Year 4 and Year 8 students every four years to provide data on trends in mathematics and science achievement. |
| Total capital expenditure |
Total expenditure incurred on capital works and services in a current year being reported. |
| Total enrolments |
The number of students registered to attend a selected school as at the school census date on the first Friday in August. This number includes both full-time and part-time enrolments. |
| Total gross income (excluding income from government capital grants) |
The amount of recurrent income received by a school from the Australian Government and state and territory governments, plus gross income from fees, charges, parent contributions and other private sources. |
| U |
| User cost of capital |
In the government budget context, the user cost of capital is usually defined as the opportunity cost of funds tied up in capital assets used to deliver government services. Capital charging is the actual procedure used for applying this cost of capital to the asset management process. As such, it is a means of representing the cost of capital used in the provision of government budgetary outputs. |
| V |
| Vocational education and training (VET) |
The standardised national training system that provides skills and knowledge for work and potential certification for participants. School students undertaking VET have access to nationally accredited vocational qualifications under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).
VET courses are delivered to school students by registered training organisations including schools, community colleges, TAFE institutes and private colleges. VET may be provided off the job and/or in a workplace environment. Workplace training is a significant part of all apprenticeships and traineeships. |
| W |
| Withdrawn (NAPLAN and NAP sample) |
Students may be withdrawn from NAP tests by their parent/carer. Withdrawals are intended to address issues such as religious beliefs and philosophical objections to testing. |
| X |
| Y |
| Year range |
The years of schooling offered by a school, including the Foundation Year (pre-Year 1) and Years 1–12. The abbreviations used on the My School website for the Foundation Year of schooling are consistent with the terms used by each state and territory.
The Foundation Year is known as:
• Preparatory (Prep) in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania;
• Kindergarten in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory;
• Reception in South Australia;
• Pre-primary in Western Australia and
• Transition in the Northern Territory.
"Ungraded" refers to students and/or classes that cannot readily be allocated to a specific year of schooling. This may include students with special education needs. |
| Years of schooling |
States and territories have different school starting ages. Years of schooling is an estimate of the average time students have spent in schooling at the time of testing, expressed in years and months. |
| Z |