Seeking Solutions to Intractable Problems

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Two developments in Australia highlight the challenge of addressing seemingly intractable problems in school reform and student achievement here and in other nations. These concern gaps in student achievement as revealed in national tests, especially for indigenous or Aboriginal (first nation) students, and how stimulus payments to help the nation through the global financial crisis have been deployed to support schools, especially through rebuilding programs. The 2009 results of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) were announced in early September. So-called league tables of state and territory performance were released, and within days every parent in the country received a letter explaining how their children did against national standards. More than 90% of students reached the minimum. About 1 million students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 sat for the tests. Overall, there was little difference from 2008, apart from small gains in grammar and punctuation for students in Year 3. Of deep concern is that jurisdictions with the highest proportions of indigenous students had the largest percentage of students who failed to reach the minimum standard. These were the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia. In the Northern Territory, with the largest percentage of indigenous students and many in remote locations, about one-third failed to reach the minimum, and the gap between indigenous and nonindigenous students is as wide as ever. Federal education minister Julia Gillard immediately claimed credit for the large number of students who did well on the exams. I think we are already seeing the benefits of [our] education revolution but, of course, to drive major changes in and school quality ... is going to take time, she said. Gillard is on shaky ground when she tries to claim credit since few, if any, policies that have been announced since the election of the Rudd Government in late 2007 are of a kind or have had time to make an impact in classrooms, especially since implementation is in the hands of state and territory governments. Giving Credit However Gillard can take credit for one important decision and that is the recent appointment of Peter Hill to serve as the first chief executive of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Agency (ACARA). Hill has been head of a curriculum and assessment body, head of a state system of education in Australia, and a professor of educational leadership and deputy dean of education at the University of Melbourne. Over the last decade, he's also led research and development at the Washington-based National Center on Education and the Economy and more recently was secretary general of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Along with Barry McGaw, the chair of ACARA who also led the education division at OECD for several years, Australia has a leadership team that few if any nations can match. However, McGaw and Hill will need to negotiate a political and educational minefield in the months ahead. Before the end of 2009, parents will receive an online report of how attended by their children compared with like schools in NAPLAN. …