Tests show remote students `struggling`

National testing results have painted an alarming picture of children in the most
remote parts of Australia struggling to read, write, spell and count.
According to 2009 National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) data
released on Friday, more than one third of Year 3 students living in very remote
areas performed below the minimum standard for writing.
This figure blew out to more than 40.3 per cent for numeracy, 44 per cent for
spelling and 45.4 per cent for grammar and punctuation.
The situation does not get better by the time students in very remote areas start
high school.
In year 7, 45.1 per cent of students in very remote areas don't meet minimum reading
benchmarks. For writing, the percentage rises to 46.9, while 42.4 per cent are below
the minimum benchmark for spelling, more than half for grammar and punctuation and
37.9 per cent for numeracy.
"In country areas we see more problems than in metropolitan Australia," Acting Prime
Minister Julia Gillard told journalists after releasing the figures at Boroondara
Park Primary School in Melbourne's east.
"The report shows that indigenous students continue to have achievement levels
substantially behind the achievement levels of non-indigenous students."
Comparative test results for each of Australia's 9,500 schools will be published on
a new website called My School from January 28 next year.
Ms Gillard said it was crucial for parents to know if their child's school was
struggling.
"But you know what's even worse? For your child to be in a school that isn't
performing well and for you to never know it, and for us, as a government, to never
know it and to never make a difference," she said.
Ms Gillard predicted the data would actually show some schools in poor areas were
performing well.
"They will be lighthouses, beacons of best practice that we can share," she said.
"We'll see schools in poorer areas that are falling behind and obviously we will
want to step in and make a difference for those schools."
On a state-by-state basis, Victorian pupils in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 marginally topped
the class, with the state having the greatest percentage of students at or above
minimum standards.
Of the five subjects tested across four grade levels, Victoria won eight of 20
categories, NSW topped seven and the states tied on two occasions.
The ACT managed to hold off the rest of country when it came to Year 7 and 9 grammar
and punctuation, while Tasmania surpassed its mainland competition in Year 7
reading.
The NT consistently had the lowest NAPLAN scores of all states and territories.
Year 3 students in the territory were between 24 and 36 per cent below the national
minimum standards across the five subjects.
It was a similar story for NT children in Years 5, 7 and 9.
Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the NAPLAN
report did not provide any information that governments did not already know.
"The question is what have governments been doing over the years ... in terms of
targeting resources to address issues of under performance," he told AAP.