We need to boost student performance

This isn’t a one-off. Results have barely budged in the past two years since the NAPLAN scoring system was rebooted. And in the 15 years of data before that, improvements were modest at best.

Top performers in NSW are also too thin on the ground. In year 5 numeracy, for example, one in six students performed at the top level. That means most year 5 students in NSW can’t confidently tackle tasks such as adding and subtracting decimals (e.g. what’s $2.50 minus $1.25?), calculating the area of a rectangle (e.g. what’s the area of a garden that’s 5m by 2m?), or fill in missing numbers in equations involving multiplication and division (e.g. 5 x ? = 30).

The learning gap between the least advantaged and most advantaged children is also staggering – on average, year 3 students whose parents didn’t finish school are almost two years behind in reading compared to students whose parents went to university. By year 9, the gap is more than five years.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The best way to boost student performance is to boost teaching quality.

Research shows that almost all students can learn to read and do maths well if they are supported with great teaching and catch-up support from day one. For reading, schools should have a strong early emphasis on systematic phonics, so all students learn to “crack the code” and read unfamiliar words.

For maths, schools also need a systematic approach. Success is fostered by teaching new concepts and skills explicitly step-by-step, and giving students plenty of opportunities to practice. It might sound “old school” today, but students also need to master their times tables and know other basic number facts automatically.

Meanwhile, here are three things the state government should do now.

First, NSW needs to mandate better early screening of student progress. It has already rolled out the year 1 phonics screening check in government schools. This is a great way to test if students have mastered the early decoding skills they need.

But the government should also mandate the test in non-government schools and introduce a year 2 resit process for students who fall behind, so that it knows whether struggling students actually catch up.

Second, the government should make sure all teachers have the basic tools they need to teach well every day. Access to high-quality curriculum materials, catch-up learning programs, and quality assessment tools to monitor student progress is essential.

Third, NSW should get more serious about building teachers’ professional expertise. This strategy has reaped huge benefits in high-performing education systems such as in England and Singapore.

NAPLAN results don’t need to tell the same dismal story every year. If NSW wants to hear a better story, it’s time to get serious about lifting the quality of teaching.