Glenn Savage writes in The Conversation (21.3.16) about suggestions that normalised measures of school student progress and learning need to be reassessed and revised. This comes after Grattan Institute findings which show widening gaps in Australian students’ performance.’Every year, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) reveals stark inequalities in student achievement in literacy and numeracy across Australian schools.
‘While recent results showed some improvements around the nation, serious performance gaps remain between young people from different backgrounds.
‘Addressing these gaps is a major policy challenge that both sides of the political divide are struggling and failing to solve.
‘The Grattan Institute’s new report, ‘Widening Gaps’, invites us to think differently about how to measure student progress and tackle entrenched inequalities in achievement.’