To my astonishment, the League Table of Primary Schools Report appeared in the Courier Mail on Saturday, 23 May, 2009 under the misleading heading of "Educating parents on vital results". Far from educating parents ,(now there's a hypocrisy), the production of raw data with no valuable background information to parents of the Primary School's context, was far more damaging than it was informative and by no stretch of the imagination was it 'educating parents'.
This is a classic case of reporting the statistical facts, without any meaningful analysis. I'm reminded of a quote from Aaron Levenstein, "Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital." Parents would be very wise to consider more importantly, what the League Table of Primary results does not reveal, rather than take at face value the raw statistics presented.
What conclusions could parents draw from the published results? In all honesty, very little. Yes the statistics provided a 'snapshot of students' at one point in time, but do they tell you anything about the quality of teaching and learning at the school? I don't think so. Do the figures reveal anything about the intervention programs currently in place at the school? No they do not. Do the statistics show how much students have improved upon the previous years in literacy and numeracy? No they do not.
It is not surprising that independent schools (and some state schools for that matter) in higher socioeconomic areas did significantly better than school in lower socioeconomic areas. There are many research papers showing a close positive correlation between students results and socioeconomic background. This was not groundbreaking news to any parent or educator.
Schools have enough to contend with at the moment with a "forced testing regime" without having to deal with so called League Tables with minimal information of any value to parents. I recommend to all parents to visit the schools that they are considering for their sons and daughters and investigate for themselves the values of the School, the curriculum, the student-teacher ratios, the sports and cultural programs available. This is far more revealing and informative than so called League Tables.
Remember, 'you don't fatten a pig by simply weighing it more', nor do you improve literacy and numeracy results by testing more. The real improvement in literacy and numeracy comes from employing highly skilled teachers and intervening at an early stage of your child's development to improve or to extend his or her learning. Providing a rich and engaging curriculum that challenges and supports deep learning is a surer way to improve literacy and numeracy than simply to "teach for testing" which some of our politicians are suggesting.
Yes it's not surprising that all sectors of primary and secondary education are feeling decidedly beleaguered, bedevilled and betwixt! We are following an American 'testing regime' model and an English model, which history will reveal as flawed. In all measures of improved literacy and numeracy (International literacy, numeracy and scientific test results - PISA and TIMMS), the very countries, which we seem to be following, are amongst the mediocre, at best, in terms of improvement over the last ten years. Surely our students and educators deserve better than this?
Why are we betwixt? Well between 'forced testing" (yes, funding arrangements require agreement to the NAPLAN testing), and the push by the federal government and the media for greater so called 'transparency', (which is not achieved by the publication of poorly organised raw data), many schools are feeling that they are under increasing pressure to prepare students for tests rather than preparing our children, in a meaningful way, for their future. A future which holds all the joy of a narrative, an understanding and empathy for different cultures, a capacity to work together in a team, the skills of problem solving and the ability to think and work creatively to meet the challenges of the future.
Beware of statistics, without explanation.
Our children deserve better and our schools deserve better than this "League" mentality.
Karon Graham
Principal
Caloundra City School
