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NAPLAN

This Month

Former Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore last October.

Ex-Macquarie boss rails against Mosman NIMBY-ism

In a rare interview, Nicholas Moore has highlighted the need for more homes in inner-city suburbs such as the Sydney harbourside suburb of Mosman where he lives.

  • John Kehoe

December 2024

Too many high-fee private schools are failing to deliver adequate academic results for their students.

‘Cruiser schools’ and why parents might not be getting what they pay for

Australia has one of the most privatised school systems in the world, but national data suggests not all students are benefiting from their costly educations.

  • Julie Hare
The dining hall at Geelong Grammar, Australia’s most expensive private school.

The surprise elite schools that are failing academically

Parents spending $30,000-plus to send their children to high-fee private schools expect educational returns. The truth is more complex.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare

September 2024

Australia’s five most powerful people in education in 2024

As we hurtle to the end of the year, there are a lot of balls still up in the air for the sector. The question is, how many have landed?

  • Julie Hare

August 2024

University lectures: there are not enough local graduates coming through to keep up the supply of researchers.

Our universities have become talent bottlenecks

Australia’s higher education system is optimised for foreign students. It is neither developing enough local skills, nor keeping the best of overseas talent.

  • Tom Snow
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This school has joined the education revolution. What about your kids?

Australian schools are finally catching up with teaching that works after a multibillion-dollar boost to student funding failed to lift learning outcomes.

  • Julie Hare
Jason Clare says there will be no additional money for the states unless they commit to education targets.

School reform fight could scupper $16b Gonski funding top-up

A stand-off between the state and federal governments is threatening a new funding deal that is linked to lifting the academic outcomes of Australian children.

  • Julie Hare and Gus McCubbing
In the results for 2024 this week, one in three students failed to meet the basic benchmarks for literacy and numeracy.

NAPLAN puts schools in remedial class

The hopes that the $319b Gonski funding revolution would turn around the worst-performing students are turning into one of the great public policy debacles.

  • The AFR View
A total ban on gambling advertising seems a distant prospect.

Labor backing a loser with its gambling ads bet

Readers’ letters on gambling ads; the hidden value of private health insurance; rare earths mining; a fix for education; and bidding au revoir to the Paris Olympics.

Girls outperform boys in every NAPLAN domain except numeracy.

Boys’ results plummet early in high school

After 10 years of compulsory schooling, about two in five boys are struggling to read and write at a high level. This is a big problem for the nation.

  • Updated
  • Julie Hare
Too many teachers are having to improvise their classroom materials.

Three ways to end NAPLAN mediocrity in our schools

Governments must lift proficiency levels, boost the quality of classroom curriculums and identify as soon as possible those students who are falling behind.

  • Jordana Hunter and Nick Parkinson
Education Minister Jason Clare on Tuesday.

Minister on a mission needs a break from the states

The latest NAPLAN results are bad news for too many school students. Jason Clare is determined to change that, but will he succeed where so many others failed?

  • Jennifer Hewett
NAPLAN is an important insight into the health of Australia’s education system – but what it reveals is not encouraging.

NAPLAN is a measure of wealth, not student ability

This year’s assessment results confirm what we already know – rich kids do well, poor kids don’t. This is to our national shame.

  • Julie Hare
This year’s NAPLAN results make dismal reading as one in three students fail to reach national achievement benchmarks.

One in three pupils fails to meet baseline literacy, numeracy

The latest NAPLAN results also reveal a stubborn gap between test results of rich and poor children, highlighting the failure of schools to overcome disadvantage.

  • Julie Hare

July 2024

Time running out to fix school funding sticking point

Here we are, 12 years later, with at least one school generation having finished their education, and there’s still no needs-based Gonski funding for disadvantaged students.

  • Doug Taylor
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April 2024

Online testing for NAPLAN means schools start receiving results this week, just four weeks after the tests were taken.

NAPLAN reports arrive eight weeks early, giving more time to intervene

Detailed reports on how schools, classes and individual students performed in this year’s NAPLAN tests will start landing on Monday.

  • Julie Hare

March 2024

An estimated 1.3 million students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from Wednesday.

Early NAPLAN gives more time to help struggling students

Students will sit the national assessment program earlier than ever before, with results landing much sooner in the school year.

  • Julie Hare

February 2024

The universities’ accord is on the right track around encouraging more equity students, says Sarah Henderson.

Uni reforms risk putting students on ‘pathway to failure’: Coalition

The opposition gives qualified backing to the government’s higher education reform agenda but says big increases in student numbers risk lowering standards.

  • Julie Hare
Australia needs a massive systemwide approach to boosting reading ability for all students.

One in three Aussie kids can’t read this headline: Grattan

Schools need to transform the way they teach reading so that fewer children get left behind, think tank report says.

  • Julie Hare

January 2024

The teachers most likely to be effective tend to cluster in wealthy areas.

Good teachers worsening the education divide: research

Highly skilled teachers are less likely to work in disadvantaged areas where they could have the most impact, new research finds.

  • Julie Hare

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/naplan-5zw