STANDARDISED test results, funding and staff data from Swan Hill schools have
been released online and local secondary school principals have conceded more
work needs to be done on reading and writing.
Students’ latest National
Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results were added to the
MySchool website this week, along with capital funding of each school.
The
Federal Government claims the website serves to inform parents and improve
education, while the Victorian Principals Association is concerned NAPLAN tests
create an unhealthy competitive environment for funding, not benefiting students
or the system.
Schools are grouped into “statistically similar” categories
using a range of information, including whether a school is in a metropolitan,
regional or remote area, and the proportion of Indigenous student
enrolments.
Swan Hill College Year Nine results, taken in May 2012, showed
the college was performing on par with statistically similar schools in all
categories but reading.
Swan Hill College principal John Brownstein said the
college was aiming to reach state averages across all NAPLAN categories.
“This means more ‘value adding’ by the College needs to occur between Years
7 and 9,” Mr Brownstein said.
More of this story in Monday’s edition of The Guardian (18/3/13).
