Benchmarks are a set of indicators or descriptors which represent nationally agreed minimum acceptable standards for literacy and numeracy at a particular year level. In this context ‘minimum acceptable standard’ means a critical level of literacy and numeracy without which a student will have difficulty making sufficient progress at school.
Benchmarks represent only the essential elements of literacy and numeracy and not the full range of the curriculum at a particular year level.
Benchmark standards are accompanied by:
- professional elaborations which provide a more detailed description of student achievement at the benchmarking level, needed by teachers and other educationists.
- examples of student work that illustrate a level of achievement at, not above or below, the minimum acceptable benchmark standard.
Benchmarks are distinct from progress maps like Profiles. Where Profiles set out a continuum of learning and ask where students’ progress is on it, the benchmarks ask whether a particular level of achievement is likely to be adequate for making satisfactory progress at school.
Benchmarks are not tests. National benchmark data is gained from the tests which are conducted by educational authorities in the States and Territories.
In March 1997 Education Ministers agreed on a new National Goal:
‘...that every child leaving primary school should be numerate, and be able to read, write and spell at an appropriate level.’
They also agreed on a sub-goal that
‘every child commencing school from 1998 will achieve a minimum acceptable literacy and numeracy standard within four years’,
while recognising that a very small percentage of students suffers from severe disabilities and so may be unable to achieve the minimum standards.
To help support the achievement of the National goals, Education Ministers endorsed a National Literacy and Numeracy Plan, which calls for a coordinated approach by the Australian Government and States and Territories to improving literacy and numeracy standards.
The Plan consists of the following key inter-related elements:
- comprehensive assessment of all students as early as possible, to identify those students at risk of not making adequate progress towards the national numeracy and literacy goals;
- intervening as early as possible to address the needs of students identified as at risk;
- the development of agreed national benchmarks in literacy and numeracy, against which all students’ achievement in these years can be measured;
- assessment of students against the national benchmarks using rigorous state-based assessment procedures;
- progress towards national reporting by systems on student achievement against the benchmarks; and
- professional development for teachers to support the key elements of the National Plan.
The development of the benchmarks and the reporting of nationally comparable benchmark data by education authorities are important parts of the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan.
At the April 1999 Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) all Education Ministers agreed to the Adelaide Declaration on the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century 
The commitment of all Ministers to the national literacy and numeracy goal is reaffirmed in the declaration. Goal 2.2 states that students should have attained the skills of numeracy and English literacy; such that, every student should be numerate, able to read, write, spell and communicate at an appropriate level.
The development of the benchmarks was undertaken by Curriculum Corporation and overseen by a MCEETYA Taskforce comprising nominees of State, Territory and Australian Government Ministers, the National Catholic Education Commission, the National Council of Independent Schools' Associations and Curriculum Corporation.
The level of the benchmark standards is based on extensive consultation with stakeholders, academic experts and literacy and numeracy education experts from government and non-government education authorities and takes account of a wide range of input, including:
- information on current levels of achievement, as demonstrated in national surveys such as the National School English Literacy Survey and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, and in State and Territory assessment programmes,
- curriculum frameworks in the States and Territories, including Statements, Profiles and variants,
- professional judgement about appropriate and necessary standards, and
- similar work from overseas programmes.
In April 1998 and March 2000 Education Ministers approved in two stages the benchmarks in literacy (reading, spelling and writing), and numeracy for Years 3, 5 and 7. The literacy and numeracy benchmarks have been published separately. (See "Can I see the Benchmarks on the web" below to view the benchmarks).
Education Ministers have agreed that information from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will be used for reporting 15-Year-old students' performance in literacy and numeracy.
All Education Ministers have agreed that the purpose of the literacy and numeracy benchmarks is to:
- describe nationally agreed minimum acceptable standards for literacy and numeracy for a particular year level, and
- enable State and Territory reporting of aggregate student achievement data against these common standards to the Australian community through the Annual National Report on Schooling.
When they agreed to the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan in 1997, all Education Ministers acknowledged the need to provide the Australian community with information about education performance, particularly the achievement of Australia's school students in key areas such as literacy and numeracy. Systematic assessment and reporting on student performance against benchmarks provides not only this information, but also a broader framework for accountability for expenditure by Australia's education systems.
Benchmarks have a strong equity dimension. The National Literacy and Numeracy Plan aims to give all students access to the enabling skills of literacy and numeracy, which underpin learning at school. The benchmarks indicate minimum national standards and help education authorities to ensure that all students achieve at least the skill levels necessary to access learning and continue to make further progress at school.
Benchmark information helps educators to monitor change, including improvements, in student performance over time. Schools and systems are also able to use this information to assist them in planning, evaluating and developing their education programmes.
Benchmarks also enable education authorities to provide objective information to parents and caregivers about children's achievement in relation to national standards
Student performance against the national benchmarks is collected from rigorous state-based assessment programmes.
State and Territory school authorities conduct their own literacy and numeracy tests annually. The main purpose and function of the State and Territory testing is to monitor student performance against the State or Territory curriculum, across the full range of student ability. National benchmark achievement data is later also derived from these results. Non-government school students also participate in literacy and numeracy testing and data is included in the State or Territory results.
Comparability of results obtained through the different state-based assessment programmes is being achieved using an equating process. Participants in this process include independent measurement experts as well as representatives of the Australian Government, State and Territory education authorities and non-government school groups, the National Council of Independent Schools' Associations, and the National Catholic Education Commission.
Under the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan, all States and Territories have agreed to report student achievement data against the benchmarks to the Australian community through the MCEETYA annual National Report on Schooling in Australia.
Reporting is in terms of achievement or non-achievement of the benchmark standards. State and Territory results are reported for all students by gender, by language background other than English and by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background, unless small student numbers mean that State/Territory confidentiality protocols would be breached.
The reporting of national benchmark data for each State and Territory acknowledges differences between States and Territories, including differences in the average amount of schooling completed by students and in their ages at the time of testing.
Ministers have agreed to the following timeline for reporting against national benchmarks.
- Years 3 and 5 literacy achievement will be reported for 1999 and subsequent years;
- Years 3 and 5 numeracy achievement will be reported for 2000 and subsequent years; and
- Year 7 literacy and numeracy achievement will be reported for 2001 and subsequent years.
In 2003, all Education Minsters agreed to report to parents their child’s achievement against the national literacy and numeracy benchmarks from 2004 onward. All jurisdictions already have information available on the achievement of students in relation to the national literacy and numeracy benchmarks and it makes sense to share this information with each child’s parents.
Reporting achievement against national benchmarks provides important additional information to parents. The main benefit is that benchmark data give parents (and schools) an independent signal, arrived at by educational experts, as to whether the student’s levels of achievement are adequate for that year of schooling.
The Curriculum Corporation web site includes a copy of:
Literacy and numeracy benchmark results are published by all State, Territory and Australian Government Education Ministers in the annual National Report on Schooling in Australia which is found on the MCEETYA website.