Real-life experiences help students boost NAPLAN results
The 2019 NAPLAN results of every Victorian school’s grades 3 and 5 and years 7 and 9 students will be updated on the My School website today, and some campuses have fared better than others.
Education
Don't miss out on the headlines from Education. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A school that took children to the beach and art galleries to boost life experiences was among the most improved Victorian campuses in NAPLAN.
The 2019 test results of every Victorian school’s grades 3 and 5 and years 7 and 9 students will be updated on the My School website on Wednesday, with some campuses faring better than others.
Writing, reading and numeracy results rose at Spring Parks Primary in Springvale as principal Julie Fisher said she wanted kids to learn by doing.
“Our foundation children go to the beach every year, and some of them have never been,” Mrs Fisher said. “If you haven’t experienced it, how do you understand when you read about it in a book?”
The school brought in a consultant to reinvent writing instruction — they moved from prescriptive tasks and let kids explore words and concepts with free writing.
Mrs Fisher said visits to art galleries, libraries and even the circus helped inspire students to write, describing what they saw, heard and felt.
“I believe in the real-life experiences, and I think it’s having a positive impact,” she said.
And if they couldn’t get out of the school, the principal said teachers used what they had — even if that was a magnifying glass on the oval to look through the grass and learn about bugs.
Spring Parks Primary and Mountain Gate Primary were Victoria’s most improved schools, showing achievements well above expectations for the Grade 5 class in three subject areas.
More than 20 other public schools showed strong gains in two domains from 2017 to 2019, many of them in Melbourne’s outer suburbs and regional Victorian towns.
For the first time, the national curriculum body refused to offer a full list of the state’s high gains schools.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority will also cut the amount of information available on My School from Wednesday.
Parents will no longer be able to see how their child’s school compared with similar campuses, or the band that students’ results sat within.
Students’ results will be shown with progress tables and comparisons to pupils with similar backgrounds, rather than against other schools.
“These changes are being made to help parents and school authorities focus more on how a school is performing … and less on ‘school versus school’ comparisons that only take account of overall levels of achievement,” ACARA chief executive David de Carvalho said.
He said there were concerns the way NAPLAN was being presented was undermining the test’s benefits.
A Victorian Department of Education spokeswoman said the new reporting model “provides a greater focus on student progress rather than school comparisons”. The scrapping of information came after a review in December.
BETTER RESULTS IN THREE SUBJECT AREAS
Spring Parks Primary
Mountain Gate Primary
BETTER RESULTS IN TWO SUBJECT AREAS
Aberfeldie Primary
Albanvale Primary
Bairnsdale Primary
Beaufort Primary
Cobden Primary
Cobram Primary
Coolaroo South Primary
Croydon Primary
Deer Park West Primary
Glendal Primary
Keysborough Primary
Moolap Primary
Mossgiel Park Primary
Mount Waverley North Primary
Nichols Point Primary
Oakleigh Primary
Swan Reach Primary
The Patch Primary
Birchip P-12
Mortlake P-12
Doveton College
Laverton P-12 College
Source: Victorian Department of Education
THE EVENTS CANCELLED OR POSTPONED SO FAR
IS VICTORIA IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY?
Visit myschool.edu.au