“The overall evidence coming from NAPLAN results should be an embarrassment to Labor, which has been at the helm of the ACT for nearly two decades. It is time for action rather than excuses,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

MAKING excuses. That’s the response of Education Minister Yvette Berry to the disastrous ACT results in the National Assessment Program for schools (NAPLAN). Excuses! Really? What about some action? 

In a press release attacking the NAPLAN data on the MySchool website, the Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister argued that the “data reported for the ACT do not present a reliable indicator of NAPLAN performance in the ACT”. 

Rather than recognising the overall indications of a system going downhill, Ms Berry has chosen to attack the data and to attack the detail.

Her argument is about “anomalies in the ACT data”. Her reasoning is that the ACT community is different from others. Higher socio-economics and a high proportion of public servants mean that interpretation of the scores disadvantages the ACT in comparison to other states and territories.

Rather than basing comparisons on raw data, the method used by the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) is to take these two factors into account along with remoteness and percentage of indigenous students. These four factors together allow a much better assessment of the quality of education for all children regardless of advantage or disadvantage.

The argument put by the Education Minister is that comparisons are unfair in such a highly educated population. 

“Sixty-five per cent of ACT students have a parent with a bachelor’s degree or above, compared to the national average of 35 per cent,” she says. ACARA is right to take this into account.

Schools in other jurisdictions are able to bring their students up to the level of the ACT students despite disadvantage of educational background or socio-economic status. 

The minister should recognise this issue and work to enhance the advantage of all ACT children in order to harness the best possible educational outcomes.

I am reminded of comparisons in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Which is more important – the line honours or the winning on the handicap results? It is not one or the other. Both are important. The ACT may do well in line honours in education: “top or equal top by mean score in 18 of 20 areas tested in NAPLAN 2019”. 

The minister should be taking whatever action is necessary to deliver the appropriate results across the system for all students. To do anything else is to rest on laurels and let the education system slowly slide downhill.

The attack on the data reminds me of Big Tobacco tactics. When epidemiologists were finding more and more evidence of the link between cigarettes and lung cancer, the industry mercilessly attacked the data and the interpretation of the data. The intention of Big Tobacco was to focus on any minor anomaly to increase doubt about the overall evidence.

The other tactic is moving focus to the good news. In this case the statement from Yvette Berry identifies “93 per cent of young people who graduated in 2017 were employed or undertaking further study in 2018 – 6 per cent higher than the national average”. 

This is good news. But it is also not socio-economically adjusted.

Changing focus identifies that NAPLAN results are not the most important indicator. Rather, “life outcomes of a student is the whole point of school and the education system”. There is also some truth in this, but it is simply an attempt to change focus. 

As identified in this column in early March, the government has been happy to sing its own praises when indicative results were positive with headlines such as: “Top marks for ACT in NAPLAN tests” (2013); and “Canberra kids shine in NAPLAN testing again” (2014).

The excuses are on the table. Now it is time for the Education Minister and the government to lay out a plan of how they intend to improve educational outcomes for all students across Canberra.

The overall evidence coming from NAPLAN results should be an embarrassment to this government. Labor has been at the helm of the ACT for nearly two decades. It is time for action rather than excuses.