Improved school reporting accountability under the Smart State strategy will result in Queensland parents being guaranteed twice-yearly report cards and meetings with teachers regarding their children's progress each semester.

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Education & Arts, Anna Bligh
educ...@cabinet.qld.gov.au
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21/10/04

In addition, from 2006 all schools will be required to publish annual information and results on their websites and the State Government will release a state-wide snapshot of year 12 results at each school.

Premier Peter Beattie and Education Minister Anna Bligh today announced a new schools reporting regime which will entitle parents and the community to more information than ever before on student and school performance.

The changes follow the public release of a consultation paper in April which attracted more than 700 submissions from parents, teachers and principals.

"These changes herald a new era in school reporting accountability," Mr Beattie said.

"With my Government's record investment in education, it's important that parents and the wider community have confidence in the quality of education being delivered in Queensland schools.

"The best way to do that is to keep them informed about the achievements of their children and their schools.

"It is important that as part of the Smart State philosophy we enable all children to reach their full potential and we expect that making school data available will help drive performance.

"Research shows that schools in states in the USA which were required to publish literacy and numeracy results at certain levels achieved higher rates of improvement than schools in states which were not required to give such details."

Ms Bligh said under the new school reporting requirements:

* Parents will be guaranteed:
o at least two written student report cards a year and
o parent-teacher interviews each semester

* Every school must publish information about its annual performance

* A broad range of Year 12 results for all Queensland schools will be published every year

* Results of state-wide literacy and numeracy tests for years 3, 5 and 7 will be presented in a new format which parents will find easier to read.

* A student identification system will be developed to track students throughout their schooling

* Common principles for reporting will be introduced for effective reporting across all schools

Most changes will be in place in 2006 with the implementation of the student identification system to be considered within the review of Queensland's education laws.

Ms Bligh said most schools already kept parents well informed about student progress through the provision of regular written reports and meetings with teachers.

"What these changes will do is guarantee every parent's right to comprehensive information on their children's progress at school," she said.

"The Year 12 data to be published will be broad and not just restricted to OPs.

"It will include the range of subjects offered at a school, the number of students studying vocational subjects and the number who gain a vocational qualification, the number of students completing or continuing a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship and the percentage of OP-eligible students who achieve an OP 1-15.

"The data from the 2005 graduating year 12 class will be published in early 2006. It will be sorted alphabetically by school. It will not be a league table.

"It's important that schools have time to put processes in place to meet these new requirements and to analyse their data between now and 2006 to help them identify where improvements need to be made and also where programs are delivering good results."

Ms Bligh said assigning a unique identifier to each student from the start of schooling would ensure the tracking of students across all schools.

"It will also enable long-term studies of what value is added by particular programs and will be particularly helpful for students who move schools," she said.

"This system will be managed by the Queensland Studies Authority."

Ms Bligh said the new format for years 3, 5 and 7 literacy and numeracy test reports would show how students performed against national benchmarks.

"Parents whose children sat the tests in August this year will receive a copy of the revamped reports next month," she said.

Media contacts:
Premier's office: 3224 4500
Anna Bligh's office: Justine Nolan 3237 1072