Revealed: The most improved schools in NAPLAN, comparing 2014 and 2018 results
Which schools are most improved NAPLAN performers in South Australia? They’re largely from the state’s regions. SEE HOW YOUR SCHOOL PERFORMED
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Schools across country South Australia stand out among the big improvers in NAPLAN results.
Comparing aggregate results for the literacy and numeracy tests in 2018 versus 2014, close to half of the 100 schools to make the biggest gains at both Year 5 and Year 9 were in the regions.
Most of them are public schools.
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The data must be interpreted with care because some schools have improved from a low results base, or had an unusually good year in 2018 (or unusually poor results in 2014), or fluctuating results over the period.
Of the schools at the top of the improvers list for Year 5, the SA Education Department nominated Naracoorte South Primary as a good example of a school making consistent gains.
Its aggregate scores rose by 12 per cent over the five years.
The federal MySchool website shows that in 2018 in reading and numeracy, its Year 5s scored better than schools around Australia with students from similar backgrounds. In 2014, Naracoorte South had rated “substantially below” similar schools in those two test areas.
In writing, spelling and grammar, the school has gone from rating below similar schools to being on par with them.
Hallett Cove South Primary made the biggest gain of any Adelaide school of 16 per cent.
After a dip in results in 2017, its Year 5s had a stellar year in 2018, performing “substantially above” similar schools in reading and above similar schools in grammar and numeracy.
Principal Chris Tippett said schools were benefiting from literacy and numeracy being “a key priority area of the department for a number of years now”.
“Heavily resourcing those areas means staff can focus on best practice, which leads to improvements in student outcomes,” he said.
Mr Tippett said Hallett Cove South also had the advantages of small class sizes and of having a preschool on site, so embedding key skills could start at an early age.
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Central Yorke School at Maitland was a big improver in both Year 5 and Year 9.
Among private schools, St Patrick’s at Mansfield Park and St Mary Magdalene’s at Elizabeth Grove were improvers in Year 5, while Mount Barker Waldorf and Encounter Lutheran featured in the Year 9 list.