10 September 2010

ACT kids smarter than other, clearly inferior models

| johnboy
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The ABC has the happy news that students in the ACT have outperformed the rest of the country in NAPLAN testing:

The latest results shows ACT students continuing to perform above the national average.

In most areas, ACT students are the best performing in the nation or are just below students from Victoria or NSW.

One suspects this has more to do with parents than education systems, but stand by for self-congratulation.

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NAPLAN assesses a wide range of areas in Literacy and Numeracy. Yep, teachers teach to the test, by teaching all the areas!

Apart from telling the schools what text type may be the focus area for the coming year (programmed to tech many years in advance), the test is a snapshot of every area of Literacy except for speaking and listening and viewing, and numeracy is every strand in the subject. Google ‘NAPLAN test sample’ to see what they are like…. very hard to teach specifically to the test.

As NAPLAN is intended to measure student learning as a check against what is being taught (and how so), it stands to reason that schools will teach to the test, as it is basically a summary of what is expected to be taught anyhow. With the Government now telling schools what *needs* to be taught (National Curriculum) this “connection” will only become more pronounced.

“Teaching to the Test” is simply media scare-mongery… which the ACA and TT viewership gladly run with…

Pork Hunt

NO!

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Pft. Next you’ll be telling me the only reason private school kids are smarter is because they tend to have wealthier, better educated parents.

Isn’t that how the gene pool works..?

Woody Mann-Caruso6:45 pm 11 Sep 10

Pft. Next you’ll be telling me the only reason private school kids are smarter is because they tend to have wealthier, better educated parents.

It’s not rocket science.

The ACT has the highest mean weekly disposable income of any Australian capital city.

It is also home to the most highly educated workforce in Australia.

JessicaNumber8:36 am 11 Sep 10

From the NAPLAN website:

Q: What will be assessed in the tests?
A: The content of each test is informed by the National Statements of Learning in English and Mathematics which underpin state and territory learning frameworks. Test questions cover aspects of literacy (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and numeracy.
Questions are either multiple-choice or require a short written response. The Writing task requires students to write a narrative (story).
All government and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials.

Your children are basically getting taught to the test.

Note that music and art aren’t being assessed (neither are phys ed or personal development) and choose your child’s school carefully.

@Johnboy: Had the results been the opposite, I’m sure you’d have had no qualms blaming teachers…

ABC headline for that article: “NSW, Victoria top the NAPLAN pile”

Hmmm…

Inappropriate3:04 pm 10 Sep 10

Nah, we’re just better at asking telling the stupid kids to sit out of the exams.

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