Reporting to parents

Questions and answers

Click on the catagory of question below to view commonly asked questions regarding assessing and reporting

Background questions
Key features of the new reporting requirements
Comparison questions
General questions about reporting
Workload issues
Support for teachers and schools
Implementation timeline
Allocation of N Awards
Vet Reporting
Stage 5 Mathematics
Professional Issues

BACKGROUND

Why do we need new reports?

Do NSW reports meet the Federal Government’s requirements for reporting to parents?
Yes, reports from NSW schools meet requirements for:

KEY FEATURES OF THE NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

What can parents expect as a result of the new reporting requirements?

GENERAL

My child comes from a non-English speaking background. How will this be taken into account?

WORKLOAD

Will there be an increase in teacher workload?

SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

What professional development support will the Department provide?

IMPLEMENTATION TIMEFRAME

When will the new reports be seen by parents?

What about VET Reports?

VET reporting will continue using current reporting practices – there is no expectation of reporting using an A-E grade or the equivalent word descriptors. Schools typically report using ‘Competent or Not Competent’, ‘Achieved or Not Achieved’ etc. These practices should continue. Schools will have provision for Comments and Marks, Ranks, etc.

What about Stage 5 Maths?

The Mathematics 7-10 syllabus does not have defined separate courses, rather it has three pathways within the one course. The minimum expected standard for Stage 5 mathematics is described by the 5.1 outcomes, with the 5.2 and 5.3 pathways representing higher levels of mathematics learning.
When reporting on student achievement twice each year schools will use the five point achievement scale, using the A-E letters or equivalent word descriptors to summarise the level of achievement.
Reporting achievement against the syllabus expectations is premised on recognising that a sound understanding of the 5.1 content by the end of Stage 5 would correspond to a C grade. A sound understanding means that the student has achieved most of the knowledge, skills and understanding that has been taught over the previous six months, in accordance with the syllabus.
The focus of the judgement about achievement is standards-referenced and is not a reflection of attitude or effort; these elements are reported separately.
The Board of Studies asks schools to grade student achievement for the School Certificate at the end of Stage 5 using a 9 point achievement scale, A10, A9, B8, B7, C6, C5, D4, D3, E2..

What About N Awards?

Current processes around ‘N’ awards as outlined in the Board of Studies ACE Manual should continue.
The Department policy on reporting to parents requires schools to grade student achievement on a 5 point achievement scale using A-E grades or equivalent word descriptors to summarise the level of achievement.
As students have the right to appeal an ‘N’ award and, if upheld, to be awarded a grade for the SC and a mark for the HSC schools should award grades.
Where the child's attendance pattern prevents the teacher from allocating a grade, school processes may follow those similar to learning adjustments. The teacher, in consultation with the principal, may decide not to allocate an overall achievement grade. e.g. Teachers have only seen the child on one or two occasion the whole reporting period. In these cases a comment will need to be written explaining why the achievement grade has not been given e.g. "Due to frequent absence no overall achievement grade has been given to XXXX"
The school should continue to use in house procedures to deal with students who require an N award. The teacher’s comment may refer to the likelihood of an “N” award being made.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

What is the relationship between reporting requirements, advice from the Board of Studies and requirements of the Institute of Teachers Act 2004 and professional teaching standards?

Advice from the Board of Studies
In relation to advice, dated 12 July, 2006 provided to the Minister the President of the NSW Board of Studies subsequently advised, in a letter in November 2006 that:

[The Board developed] work samples are intended to assist teachers in making consistent judgments when using the A to E scale…..[and] a considerable amount of work has been achieved by the Board in publishing student work samples aligned to the A to E scale. 

This is not to say the Board developed or 'common' set of aligned work samples is a pre-requisite to the adoption of A to E reports. Indeed, many Non-government schools and systems have already implemented A to E reports for Kindergarten to Year 6 students based on their own work in this area.

Professional Teaching Standards
The implementation of A-E reporting is not contradictory to the application of the Professional Teaching Standards.

Accreditation against the Element 3 and Standards (3.2.7, 3.2.8, 3.2.9 and 3.2.10.) requires that teachers can implement both formative and summative assessment and reporting to parents. Reporting in an A-E format, or an equivalent, is an example of communicating the results of summative assessment which addresses 3.2.9 directly.

New scheme teachers have to demonstrate how they meet the Standards by referring to an Evidence Guide. In relation to reporting, the Evidence Guide for Standard 3.2.9 requires that teachers are able to:

• use appropriate terminology and language in report
• use correct grammar and spelling in reports
• accurately reflect student achievement
• report in a timely manner

These requirements can be implemented effectively and constructively using a 5 point achievement scale where the level of achievement is summarised using A-E or the word equivalents.

Feedback from schools that issued compliant reports in 2006 does not include issues in relation to the professional teaching standards. 

Actions being taken to support schools
The Department, along with other school authorities will continue to work with the Board of Studies to add further material to the Assessment Resource Centre (ARC). Currently there are 1200 annotated work samples along with over 250 assessment activities. This material is being reviewed following use by schools in 2006 and will be updated.

The Department’s website provides support material and advice to aid reporting using the 5 point achievement scale.

How do you report using A-E reporting for younger students in subjects other than English and Mathematics?

The use of the 5 point achievement scale is consistent with the Australian Government legislative requirements and contributes to:

• consistency of reporting within and across schools
• greater understanding by parents and community members

The School Assistance (Learning Together-Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 No 135 states at 2.3 (1) that “ a student report must specify, for each program year, a required framework for relative and comparative reporting of a child’s progress and achievement against the performance of the child’s peer group at the school.”

This includes

• “the student report must include, for subjects studied, an assessment against achievement levels or bands defined by the education authority or school, being levels or bands that: (i) must be labelled as A, B, C, D, E (or an equivalent);”

The Department’s policy, however, does not require A – E grading for students in Kindergarten. This position has been accepted by the Commonwealth Government.

Feedback from schools has been that grading of subjects other than English and Maths in Years 1 and 2 was a positive in that it allowed for recognition of those students who may not necessarily be ‘academic’. It allowed for all students to have some opportunity for achievement to be recognised.

Another school pointed out that schools’ working together was helpful as it provided purpose and opportunities to view samples of student work and related achievement in KLAs other than English and Mathematics whilst also providing a consistent understanding of the five point scale. They also stated that syllabus and Foundation Statements contributed significantly to an understanding of the “what students know and can do and how well they can do it”

Actions being taken to support schools

The Board of Studies, in collaboration with school authorities, is continuing to collect and identify student work samples to be aligned to the A to E scale to be published on the Board's Assessment Resource Centre internet site. These work samples are intended to assist teachers in making consistent judgments when using the A to E scale. 

The Department will publish strategies and advice used to assess and report in Years 1 and 2, based on feedback from schools in Term 2, 2007.

What has been the impact on reporting Aboriginal student achievement using the five point achievement scale?

The use of the 5 point achievement scale does not create cases of low achievement. The use of a consistent scale does, however, create greater consistency in reporting and does require greater accountability at the class, school and system level for improving the achievements of this group of students.

The Department does not accept the assertion that Aboriginal children will finish their school careers “having been told maybe 80 or 90 times on a report that they are a D or an E”.

While Aboriginal students are over represented in the lower achievement bands of state-wide assessment procedures, there are Aboriginal students represented in all achievement bands.

For example, the 2006 Year 5 BST data outlines the spread of achievement across the 6 Bands and highlights that 51.5% of Aboriginal students achieved Bands 3 or higher in literacy and 51.6% in numeracy. A similar distribution could be expected across the state when teachers use the 5 point achievement scale.

Feedback from schools that issued reports in 2006 has not identified any significant issues with reporting achievement of Aboriginal students. Indicative comments include “no significant issues in regard to self esteem”, “no issues with grading Aboriginal students”, “ and no significant impacts”.

Other feedback from schools with significant Aboriginal populations (30 – 50%) has been that attendance was more the issue, specifically with K-2 boys, and that this has impacted on achievement. The schools did also highlight that there were many Aboriginal students achieving in the outstanding, high and sound achievement in many KLAs.

Schools are working to improve the achievements of Aboriginal students focussing on building stronger partnerships with the community through communication, including in relation to the written student report.

Schools with significant Aboriginal student enrolments have taken the reporting to parents as an opportunity to strengthen their community links and have gone out into the communities working closely to raise expectations, let parents know their children are valued and need to be at school to learn, and improve the attendance. Teachers in these schools commented that they are reflecting on their own teaching and really looking at each syllabus, the content and they are raising the bar in their own teaching of their students.

One of the messages that emerged from the Review was to “give our children a fair go”. The Department does not accept the position that comments from parents implied that they wanted less information about how their children were performing. A relevant extract, in the Early Years of Primary, Section 2, p79 from the review follows.

A number of issues and concerns identified by parents and teachers during the field trips and in submissions relate to home and classroom links, including:

• the importance Aboriginal parents place on having access to and fully understanding reporting about student outcomes and student progress

• tracking students within and across schools to ensure there is consistency in data gathering and common understandings and expectations about information shared.

Feedback provided through the Schools in Partnership program as sited in the Summary of professional issues identified by the Department of Education and training in Response to Direction 3 made by IRC on 3 November 2006 is that in working with the Department’s assessment and reporting policy, they have found no inconsistency between their commitment to meeting targets in Aboriginal education and the reporting framework.

• Schools in Partnership initiative (3.2) including cultural education for staff (1.3)

• Personalised Learning Plans for Aboriginal students developed in collaboration with parents/carers (3.1)

Student reporting is complemented by the introduction of Personalised Learning Plans and the strengthening of the relationship with parents in understanding their current level of achievement and plans for the next stages of learning. This reflects a focus on high expectations and close collaboration between schools and parents.

Are there any issues specific to Priority Schools’ that need support?

Factors such as unemployment, poverty and educational background of parents are not predictors of educational success or failure for individual students.

One of the key characteristics of the Priority Schools Program (PSP) (including the Priority Schools Funding Program and Priority Action Schools Program) is the importance of high expectations for all students as quoted in the DET position paper,

The fact that a student is male or female, from a language background other than English, or is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and is from a low socio-economic (SES) background does not accurately predict a lower literacy performance. While, on average, some of these students will be underperforming, there will be many students in the school population who are achieving at very high levels of achievement.

The student reports indicate how well the student has achieved against the syllabus expectations using a 5 point achievement scale, with schools able to choose between A-E grades or word descriptors to summarise a student’s achievement. There is no pre-determined distribution.

This means that a school will be able to give as many of each grade as there are children whose work demonstrates that standard of achievement. Describing a student’s achievement as ‘limited’ or allocating an E grade does not, in itself, label a child but rather alerts the school and parents that further learning support is required.

Feedback from schools that issued new reports in 2006 indicates that the new reporting process has streamlined processes for identification of low achieving students and students on a learning adjustment programs. This had translated into priorities for 2007 school plans eg setting targets to improve levels of achievement.

Actions being taken to support schools

The Equity Programs and Distance Education Directorate will continue to support teachers in improving achievement of students in schools serving low SES communities through Priority Schools Program and will continue to support schools reporting achievement of these students.

A brochure has been developed providing information on the A-E reporting for parents who speak a language other than English. The brochure has been translated into 22 languages and is available on the department’s website.  

What advice for reporting achievement of students for whom English is a second language?

Students from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE) are a diverse group and would be expected to be represented across all achievement levels. A student of LBOTE is defined as one in whose home a language other than English is spoken.

Students learning English as a second language (ESL) represent about 40% of the LBOTE student population.  While ESL students may have curriculum knowledge’ skills and understandings in their first language, some may not have sufficient English to demonstrate their knowledge.  In this case schools can show progress in learning English against the ESL Reporting Scale 1-6 providing parents with an understanding of their child’s potential.

For students learning English as a second language some additional provisions have been made in the policy:

• ESL students who are new to English (have been enrolled in an Australian school for less than 4 terms) typically do not develop sufficient academic language to participate fully in classroom learning and can be exempt from the A-E scale.

• Schools will use the ESL Reporting Scale 1-6 for ESL students to report achievement in learning English when reporting to parents. The student’s report will indicate that it shows achievement in learning English judged in relation to the ESL Scales.

• For new arrival ESL students in primary, central and high schools, if appropriate, other KLAs or subjects studied may be reported against the five point achievement scale (as in 3.2.2) otherwise only a comment need be provided.

• For new arrival ESL students in IECs and IEHS, students’ achievements in other KLAs are to be described against the standards of the Department’s Intensive English Program Curriculum Framework.

• For other ESL students (more than 4 terms in an Australian school) achievement in the KLAs or subject (other than English) will be reported using the five point achievement scale.

Section 3.2.4, Curriculum planning and programming, assessing and reporting to parents K-12 policy

Currently the BST and ELLA data allows systemic reports to be produced on the achievement of NESBT (total LBOTE population) and NESB1 (less than 3 years in Australian school). At an individual school level reports can be generated showing NESB T, NESB 1 and ESL students.

Actions being taken to support schools

All ESL teachers have had access to initial support in the implementation of reporting using the ESL Reporting Scale.

The Equity Programs and Distance Education Directorate will continue to support teachers in improving achievement of ESL students and will continue to support schools reporting achievement of these students.

What is the link between Reporting and student welfare?

The Department’s position is that the school Principal can and should exercise professional discretion and provide appropriate reports to students who are seen to be “at risk” or for whom significant welfare issues exist.

Schools provide effective learning and teaching within secure, well managed environments, in partnership with parents and the wider school community (Student Welfare Policy p4, 1996.)

Core values guide student welfare and discipline, communication, opportunities for staff, students and parents to participate in decision making and learning experiences.

Student welfare practices support students to manage difficult learning experiences and the consequences of their learning - a necessary process in being a productive member of society.

Feedback from schools has been that there were no significant issues in student welfare as a result of reporting to parents. The allocation of the grades (or equivalent word descriptors which most chose to use) has provided accurate feedback to parents and is influencing how teachers are planning and seeking to improve student performance.  Comments included ‘No excuses’, ‘parents are now being given accurate honest feedback and working with the school to assist with their child’s learning.’

Actions being taken to support schools

The Student Welfare Directorate will continue to support teachers and schools with specific student welfare programs.

Why has the Department chosen A to E or equivalent word descriptors for schools?

The use of the five point achievement scale is a policy decision. It is consistent with the Australian Government requirements and contributes to:

• consistency of reporting within and across schools
• greater understanding by parents and community members

Schools can choose to use either A-E or word descriptors.

The Eltis review also recommended that attention be paid ‘to the ways in which performance levels are defined’ (p90) given that in schools existing use of performance scales there was ‘considerable confusion’ and ‘just what each level means is not always clear’( p90).

Consistency of teacher judgement is better supported if teachers in all schools are using one scale with common descriptors.

No other state system provides choice in the scale to be used at the school level. Other states and territories are using A to E grades, or equivalent in some cases – see table below.

Secondary schools indicated it was a decision which was not radically different to what had been used previously.

Feedback from schools has been that the A-E scale or equivalent word descriptors have been well received by parents with positive feedback.

Feedback from parents has been that they “expressed disappointment with older style reporting…” and “parents want consistency in reporting”.

Further, “Parents appreciate a common achievement standard established by the Board of Studies that applies across government and non-government schools” [p2 Parents have their say on New Student Reports – Bronwyn Ridgway 2006]

Actions being taken to support schools

Extensive Briefing support around making A-E judgements and possible exclusions occurred over terms 2 and 3 and 4, 2006 in all regions and is available to all Principals to revisit and reuse with staff and parents, on the timetoeach website
 
Extensive web support around the five point achievement scale has been provided.

The Board of Studies website provides support and work samples for teachers to use as a guide.

Summary of report to parents in all states and territories