TAS News
Principal’s Blog – Student Gain Analysis | NAPLAN
Date: June 5, 2019 Posted by: Sue Wicks
NAPLAN Student Gain Analysis
2016 – 2018 data
One way of measuring the quality of teaching and learning at a school is to compare student gain in NAPLAN.
Data from the Myschool website was analysed to measure student gain between 2016 and 2018 (the most recent available data) in selected Cairns schools. Growth between 2016 and 2018 was analysed between Year 3 to 5 and Year 7 to 9. The Year 5 to 7 data was not analysed due to the large number of students who change schools at the beginning of Year 7, which makes the data non-indicative.
Two measurements were created. The starting mean score across the 3 main strands in Year 3, 2016 or Year 7, 2016 gives a starting score. Then the student gain over 2 years was measured as a comparison to the national mean gain across Australia to give a gain score. Student gain is a useful tool as per the ACARA website: “Student gain is a way to measure the impact the school has had on student progress. That is, … it is more likely that any differences in gain made by schools are related to the teaching and learning capabilities of the school”. We use the gain measured between students at the same starting score across Australia which minimizes the impact of socioeconomic background as a variable. This then leads to a total score. It should be noted that the higher the starting score the more difficult it is to create student gain. In addition, it is not possible to determine whether the reason for high Year 3 or Year 7 mean starting scores is due to high achieving enrolments, successful teaching and learning, or a combination of both.
NB: the 3 main strands analysed are Reading, Writing and Numeracy (as per the My School website data availability)
