Editorial: Parents have right to know their child’s NAPLAN data

Education authority ACARA has objected to The Courier-Mail providing parents with access to data on their children’s NAPLAN results. But having to defend this seems absurd. In fact, we believe ACARA should publish the details itself, writes the editor.

You have department store shelves stacked with how-to guides for NAPLAN tests and it’s a key factor among many parents when choosing where to send their kids to school – so why are they forced to do their own research?

The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) continues to show a lack of transparency with its NAPLAN results.

Instead of making each school’s results easily accessible and available, parents have to trawl through the My School website to compare and contrast.

This is why The Courier-Mail, in conjunction with News Corp newspapers across the country, is launching the Schools Hub campaign – publishing five years of NAPLAN results to do the homework for parents.

Generic photos for NAPLAN stories ...schoolchildren, school computers, education

Now more than a decade old, NAPLAN covers reading, writing, spelling, numeracy, and grammar and punctuation as a “point in time” test. But it judges schools more than it judges students.

Schools should be held to account for how their students performed and in turn praised for their outstanding success.

Take Rainworth State School in Bardon as a prime example – a public primary facility that has outscored many of Brisbane’s elite GPS institutions which charge annual fees in excess of $25k.

In fact, five out of the top 10 listed in The Courier-Mail today were plucky state schools that deserve the spotlight on them.

Demographers say the performance of local schools in NAPLAN and ATARs can be a huge factor in the real estate market.

If a public school has shown to be consistently achieving incredible NAPLAN results since 2017, results better than its nearest neighbouring private school – parents may opt to not fork out thousands in annual fees.

Others may opt to move into the local state school catchment.

Schools should be held to account for how their students performed.

The Schools Hub campaign can enable parents to make an informed decision with the click of a button. We want parents to have access to an ultimate guide of comprehensive data.

ACARA has objected to this. But having to defend the publishing of the data seems absurd.

In fact, we believe ACARA should be publishing the data itself.

Meanwhile, you have educators, school leaders and teachers who say the testing is flawed and outdated, while the Queensland Teachers Union, which last year encouraged its members to pull their children from sitting the test, have called for it to be “put to pasture”.

At a time when Australian students are falling behind the progress of overseas counterparts, based on the latest OECD data, we can’t afford to drop the ball on giving them the chance at the best education possible.

So rather than cave to union pressures and scrap one of the last transparent indicators of school performance, Australia should be upfront with the results and give parents the tools to make critical decisions for their child’s future.

After all, it’s your right to know.