PRESENTED BY BREE, LAUREN, MEGAN AND SOPHIE

CHAPTER 9 • BENCHMARKING AND

MONITORING STUDENTS' ACHIEVEMENT

INTRODUCTION - LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
• Identify the purposes external assessment has played
in Australian schools over time
• Evaluate the role the National Assessment
Program plays as a set of national monitoring processes
for schools
• Evaluate the function of international large-scale
assessments for Australian schools
EXTERNAL FORMS OF
ASSESSMENT IN AUSTRALIA
• Secondary schooling was relatively new and not open to all 
• Until 1943 in NSW, primary students had to pass a high
school entrance exam in order to attend secondary school!
• NSW - currently a small number of secondary schools are
selective entry 
• Better known end-of-schooling tests are university entrance
exams (e.g. ATAR)

• External assessments have always been a part of

Australian schooling - examinations at the end of key
stages
• Exams still exist in most states and are a means by which
students are selected for higher education
• To enable more consistency, governments of all states
and territories agreed to a National Assessment Program
(NAP) in 2007
• NAP provided for nation-wide assessment encompassing
a number of curriculum areas, enabling comparisons
across states and territories
• The use of data is under continuous debate
• Always been part of Australian schooling, usually at end of
key stages (e.g. ATAR exams)
• Newer forms of literacy and numeracy assessment began in
NSW in 1989, similar programs followed around Australia 
• Prior to NAPLAN, the WALNA test was sat by students in
Western Australia
• For a more consistent approach, governments agreed to
the National Assessment Program (NAP) in 2007, making it
possible to easily compare states and territories 
• Monitor national achievement

• Political, economic and social pressures led Australian governments to seek greater
accountability from schools, teachers and students 
MONITORING • Community perception that students were not doing well enough in school, particularly
numeracy and literacy 
STUDENTS' • Difficult for educators to counter these claims
ACADEMIC
ACHIEVEMENT • Standardised testing was a simple measure that could be developed and administered to
large populations of students, also used for comparability
• Meant that student assessment became public property of Australia
• Garth Boomer (1998) opposed standardised testing
- Placed more faith in teacher's judgements
- Supported professional development programs
 MONITORING STUDENTS' INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENTS
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT CONT.
1. Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
2. Trends in International Mathematics/Science Study (TIMSS)
• 2006 - Ministers of education agreed to a common assessment
3. • 
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
program
• 2008 - NAPLAN was put into effect as a national assessment
mechanism
• Triennial survey of 15-year-old students that assesses key
• Different kind of accountability
knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society
• NAPLAN was one part of a much broader set of assessments
• Focuses on proficiency in reading, mathematics, science and
referred to by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
an innovative domain and on students’ well-being
Authority (ACARA) as the National Assessment Program (NAP):
• 79 participating countries
- National sample assessments in Science Literacy, Civics and
Citizenship and ICT Literacy
PISA 2018 Findings:
- International assessments
1. RESULTS
• Students in Australia scored higher than the average in
reading and science
Concerns
• Average performance in reading has been declining since
• Trend of students with higher socioeconomic status are achieving
2000. Performance in mathematics has been declining too
better results than those of a lower socioeconomic status - could this
since 2003, and in science, since 2012
at all be related to the testing being in an online format? 
• Australia ranked 29th in mathematics, 17th in science and 16th
• Some are more familiar with technology, creating additional
in reading
stress/anxiety for those students of a lower socioeconomic status
• ACARA are currently grappling these issues with trials of new
2. THE SCHOOL CLIMATE
formats
• 30% of students reported being bullied, compared to 23% on
• If online testing impacts outcomes of assessment, it needs to be
average across other countries
identified and steps must be taken to remedy negative effects
• 82% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their teacher
showed enjoyment in teaching, compared to 74% on average
Positives 
across other countries
• Assessments are more efficient in terms of costs and administration
• Student competition is more prevalent (64% as opposed to
& allows results to be delivered back to schools quicker
the 50% average of other participating schools)
• NAPLAN can be used to diagnose individual literacy problems
• Data can be used for whole schools to reflect together and identify
school-level problems (Dooner, 2011)
• Conducted every four years
• Curriculum sequence and teaching strategies could be better
• Aims to measure how well students in Year 4 and 8 have
utilised once student performance on particular tasks is understood
mastered the Mathematics and Science Curriculum

• Needs to be one in which the reason for such large scale testing
• Aims to measure how well students in Year 4 can acquire and
outweighs instrumental, political and commercial interests
use information that they have read
• Multiple mock assessments/model answers available online =
• Focuses on comprehension, making inferences, interpreting
concern that it can be ‘overdone’ for students and that testing for the
and integrating ideas and information, and evaluating texts
sake of testing may fail to enhance the learning of Australian
students
• Individual assessments that measure improvement for each student
• Share evidence of the best policies and practices
rather than monitoring student progress will likely take place of
• Offer timely and targeted support to help countries provide
standardised national assessments against artificial benchmarks
the best education possible for all students
• Powerful tool countries can use to improve education policies