OLNA results are out

OLNA results are out

A word from Allan Blagaich, CEO

A photo of children sitting in a classroom taken from the back of the classroom

Hi folks.

Our role as educators is to support students to develop the skills for life at and beyond school. After 13 years of schooling every student should be able to leave school with at least a minimum level of literacy and numeracy that will ensure they can meet the demands of everyday life and work.

A word from Allan Blagaich, CEO

A photo of children sitting in a classroom taken from the back of the classroom

Hi folks.

Our role as educators is to support students to develop the skills for life at and beyond school. After 13 years of schooling every student should be able to leave school with at least a minimum level of literacy and numeracy that will ensure they can meet the demands of everyday life and work.

Young people leaving school need to be able to complete tasks such as writing a job application and balancing the family budget. Beyond that, they need to be able to engage in the ongoing learning that comes with further training and education. The community – including universities, training organisations, employers and industry – has been explicit that a clear, minimum standard is essential as a starting point for students moving into life beyond school.

Results released to schools

The results for the March round of the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) were recently released to schools. The changes to the WACE requirements that come into play this year mean there are going to be some students who are concerned about their OLNA results.

Diagnostic reports

In response to feedback from schools, the results we have released include information to help schools target support for students. This diagnostic information will be very helpful to schools because it includes details about individual student performance for all students that have not yet demonstrated the standard.

These Category 1 and 2 reports detail the skills and understandings students found the most challenging in the assessment. Schools will be able to use this information along with school-based assessments and observations when identifying areas requiring support and planning intervention strategies for individual students prior to the September round of assessments.

The WACE and the WASSA

For the WACE to be valued and respected it must involve a rigorous and acceptable standard. To achieve a WACE, students need to meet all of the requirements and demonstrating the literacy and numeracy standard is just one of these. It is important that everyone understands that there is no exemption or exclusion from demonstrating the standard. All the requirements need to be met in order to achieve the WACE. However it is important that students understand that they are able to accumulate results for a WACE over a lifetime.

A student’s results and achievements can be ‘banked’ indefinitely. There will be opportunities for students to continue to accumulate results after leaving school until they meet the requirements of the WACE. This includes demonstrating the literacy and numeracy standard.

I recognise that many students, for a variety of reasons, may not be able to demonstrate the minimum standards of literacy and numeracy by the end of Year 12. For that reason, the Board of the Authority announced that all students in Western Australia will receive a Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement (WASSA). This document will provide a record of all that a student has achieved over the senior secondary years.

The WASSA will be used by TAFE at the point of entry to look at what a student has achieved and will also be used by employers to determine achievement in courses applicable to their industry. In the instance where students have not met one or more of the elements of the OLNA, I understand that TAFE will be providing additional literacy and numeracy programs which can be taken in conjunction with Certificate courses. The final point I’d like to make is that there are many requirements to be met to achieve a WACE. Meeting the literacy and numeracy standard is just one of them.

Do you need more information?

There is information on our website. You’ll find it in the OLNA section under the Assessment tab of our Years 11 and 12 website at http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/olna.

Keywords: OLNA, WACE, WASSA

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