national Benchmark results are in

Media Release, The Hon Julia Gillard MP, 1 February 2008; Media Release, The Hon Bronwyn Pike
MLA, 1 February 2008; The Age, Farrah Tomazin, 2 February 2008; Canberra Times, Ross Peake,
2 February 2008

The Ministerial Council of Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs has released the results of the 2006
national reading, writing and numeracy benchmarks for years 3, 5 and 7. The results have indicated that although
there was no significant difference between the performance of boys and girls in numeracy tests, a higher proportion
of girls met the literacy benchmarks.

A greater proportion of students in metropolitan areas met the benchmarks than students in regional areas. The
results also showed that indigenous students and students in very remote areas of Australia continue to perform significantly below other students.

The report’s figures show that year 3 Victorian students are the nation’s best in writing and numeracy, and that year
5 and 7 Victorian students outperform the rest of the country in reading and writing.

 

 

Victorian Education Minister, Ms Bronwyn Pike, said that ‘seeing our students travelling so well at crucial points in their schooling is very encouraging news for teachers and parents.’

Yet the State Opposition Education spokesperson, Mr Martin Dixon, believes that the results are a ‘sham’, and that ‘different testing regimes’ do not allow for a fair comparison between students and states and territories.

The Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Ms Julia Gillard, has indicated that the introduction
of uniform national benchmark tests in May 2008 would provide the first ‘truly accurate’ comparison between the performance of students in different states and territories.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2006.

 

 

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