Results of the National School English Literacy Survey

The Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training, the Hon Dr David Kemp MP released the results of the National School English Literacy Survey on 15 September 1997.

The Minister's Press Release labelled the results of the survey as a national disgrace. The Minister has also indicated that, in response to the findings, the Federal Government will impose conditions on future funding for literacy programs.

The Survey was conducted in August and September 1996. The Survey collected data from 8,200 randomly selected students across Australia. The purpose of the Survey was to collect reliable national base-line data on literacy achievements of Australian school children in Years 3 and 5.

The NSELS was a collaborative exercise funded by the Federal Government and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). The detailed methodology for the Survey was developed collaboratively over an eighteen month period, with the support of government and non-government education authorities, professional literacy associations, teacher unions, parents and the business sector.

Dr Kemp released two reports analysing the results of the Survey on 15 September 1997:

Mapping Literacy Achievement: Results of the 1996 National School English Literacy Survey is a research document written primarily for educators. It provides, for the first time, a national map of literacy achievement in key aspects of literacy; namely, Reading, Writing (including Spelling), Speaking, Listening and Viewing.
Literacy Standards in Australia reports the percentages of Year 3 and Year 5 students meeting clear performance standards in reading and writing based on the 1996 National School English Literacy Survey. The performance standards described and illustrated in this report are informed by work to develop benchmarks in literacy and numeracy under the direction of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.

Accompanying the release of these two reports were background documents which provide an overview of the results of the report. These include:

charts setting out performance of students in Year 3 Reading, Year 5 Reading, Year 3 Writing and Year 5 Writing;
a summary of Literacy Standards in Australia
a summary of Mapping Literacy Achievement
questions and answers about the survey
a brief overview of the National Literacy Plan

A package enclosing the two Survey reports will be available from the AGPS Info shops across Australia from the 22^nd of September 1997 for $8.95.

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