What is the purpose of internal (ie by schools) reporting in the compulsory years in your state/territory?

Each year schools are required to provide parents with at least two written reports on student progress against the Victorian Essential learning Standards (VELS) for Years Prep to Year 10.

The key aim of reporting students’ progress to parents is to ensure that parents are provided with accurate, useful and timely information about their child’s progress at school and to provide a point of discussion between teachers and parents to assist with the next steps in student’s learning.

Parents receive student results from the statewide Achievement Improvement Monitor (AIM) testing. From 2008, the AIM test will be replaced by the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and will involve students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Victoria does not have a Year 10 Certificate.

What is the purpose of external (ie by systems/Board/Council) if any reporting in the compulsory years in your state/territory?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in English and Mathematics provides the necessary data for comparing Victorian student achievement against national benchmarks.

The purpose of annual reporting by schools to DEECD is to enable schools and their clients to monitor, as objectively as possible, the effectiveness of teaching programs and of the school’s core operations, taking into account the characteristics of their student populations.

The School Accountability Framework supports schools in improving and maintaining high standards of learning for each student.

The framework allows schools to develop their own education plans and priorities with regard to Government policies and programs; it provides the means to check programs and establish whether objectives are being met, and it provides performance information to local communicates and to DEECD.

What information is currently reported externally?

See response below.

How is the information reported?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in English and Mathematics provides an indicator of student achievement in literacy and numeracy whilst measuring their achievement against the VELS and national benchmarks.

Government schools report each year in the School Annual Report, against the following achievement measures:

Student learning: primary schools

Student achievement against the standards described in the VELS in English and Mathematics.

Student learning: secondary colleges

Student achievement against the standards described in the VELS in English and Mathematics

Specialist schools

Staff assessment of progress towards individual learning goals established in the context of the VELS.

Curriculum provision and participation

• parent opinion as measured by the questionnaire developed by DEECD
• participation of students and groups of students in elective programs and in the Victorian Certificate of Education and Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (secondary colleges only)

School learning environment

• student accident data
• responses to the parent opinion questionnaire
• student attendance patterns

Accountability

Exit and destination data in terms of employment or further study (secondary colleges only).

• responses to the parent opinion questionnaire
• enrollment patterns

Management

• responses to a staff opinion questionnaire provided by the Office of Review
• patterns of participation in professional development
• rates of staff leave

Resources

• statement of annual financial result
• total receipts and expenditure

The school annual report assists schools to monitor standards of student achievement.

Teachers use the standards to make judgments about the achievements of individual students. These individual assessments are then aggregated to provide information about the achievements of year level cohorts and the school as a whole.

For secondary colleges, student achievement is also analysed and reported in terms of results in the VCE. Benchmarks provided by DEECD assist schools to identify their relative standard of achievement.

Schools are also asked to report on the achievement of boys and girls, students of non-English speaking background, Koorie students, students with special learning needs and students with high levels of mobility.

Achievement

The results of national testing are also used to provide benchmark data annually to schools in English and Mathematics at Year 3, 5, 7 and 9.

What agency is responsible for external reporting?

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority is responsible for implementing the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) statewide testing and reporting to parents, schools and the sectors in English and Mathematics at Year 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The Office of Government School Education of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) manages the accountability framework for government schools in Victoria.

Respondent Information

State/Territory: Victoria
Contact Officer: Carole Lander
Phone: (03) 9651 4238
Fax: (03) 9651 4324
Email: lander.carole.c@edumail.vic.gov.au