Questions and Answers
Information for parents (Revised 21 April, 2008)
Why has the student report changed?
What can I expect on this student report?
What are the Achievement Codes?
What information is provided for my child's Effort and Behaviour?
What is an unexplained absence?
Can the school supplement the student report with additional information?
What other information will I receive about my child's progress?
How often do teachers need to meet with parents?
Do the student reporting requirements apply to all year levels?
Will my child in Year 11 or 12 receive the same student report as my child in Year 7?
What about my child in the Preparatory Year?
How will reporting for students with a disability be accommodated?
How will reporting for students with English Language needs be accommodated?
What if the school does Rich Tasks or Integrated Units?
Will I know how well my child is going compared to other children in the same year level across Queensland?
Will I know how well my child is going compared to others in their year level at the school?
How will I know what the expected level of achievement for the learning area and year level is?
Why has the student report changed?
The Australian Government has legislated, in the Schools Assistance (Learning Together - Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Regulations 2005, as a condition for continuing government funding to schools, a number of requirements in relation to student reports for all schools (government and non-government).
Under these requirements, school reports must include five achievement bands that must be labelled A, B, C, D, E (or an equivalent). In Queensland state schools, the achievement of students in Years 1-3 will be reported against what is expected for the time of the year using the ratings Very High, High, Sound, Developing and Support Required, while the achievement of students in Years 4-10 will be reported against what is expected for the time of the year using the ratings A, B, C, D and E.
Parents may also request that the school provide them with written information that clearly shows their child's achievement relative to other children in the same year level at the school (subject to privacy and confidentiality of individual students being maintained).
^ Top of page
What can I expect on this student report?
If your child is enrolled in a Queensland state school, you will receive at least two written reports each year, outlining your child's achievements to that point in time. The reports will be written in 'plain English' to help you see your child's progress. To assist schools to comply with the requirements of the Australian Government, a common student report format in the form of a template has been developed. This template will be used by all state schools for reporting student achievement in Years 1-10.
The template sets out a standard reporting format based on the Key Learning Areas. All schools will implement the format for the standard template.
The student report template includes:
Learning Areas - each child's report will contain achievement information about each learning area studied. The report may also contain information about extracurricular activities.
Achievement Codes - these codes describe your child's overall achievement for each learning area studied against what is expected at the time of reporting. To accommodate the developmental learning needs of young children, achievement in Years 1-3 will be assessed against a different five-point Achievement Code to older children:
- In Years 1-3 the achievement ratings Very High, High, Sound, Developing, Support Required are used.
- In Years 4-10 the achievement ratings of A, B, C, D, E are used.
- Effort and Behaviour are reported for your child against an A - E rating.
Written comments outline what your child has achieved and provide advice on areas for improvement.
Information is provided on the Year 2 Diagnostic Net reports, the Queensland Literacy and Numeracy Tests for Years 3, 5 , 7 and 9 reports and a statement on the report advising parents that they may receive, on request, written information on the number of students in each of the achievement levels for their child's peer group at the school, subject to the privacy of individual students being maintained.
Number of days absent and unexplained absences for your child.
^ Top of page
What are the Achievement Codes?
The Achievement Codes describe your child's overall achievement by using a rating (e.g. 'Very High' for Years 1-3 or an 'A' for Years 4-10) and a descriptor (e.g. "Evidence in a student 's work typically demonstrates a very high level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes") for each of the learning areas studied against what is expected at the time of reporting.
In Years 1-3, your child's overall achievement in each of the learning areas studied over the reporting period will be rated as:
| Very High | The student consistently demonstrates a very high level of knowledge, skills and understanding and is able to apply them independently in a wide range of contexts. |
| High | The student demonstrates a high level of knowledge, skills and understanding and is able to apply them independently in most contexts. |
| Sound | The student demonstrates a sound level of knowledge, skills and understanding and is able to apply them in some contexts. |
| Developing | The student is developing knowledge, skills and understanding and is able to apply them, with support, in some contexts. |
| Support Required | The student requires significant support to develop knowledge, skills and understanding. |
In Years 4-10, your child's overall achievement in each of the learning areas studied over the reporting period will be rated as:
| A | Evidence in a student's work typically demonstrates a very high level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes |
| B | Evidence in a student's work typically demonstrates a high level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes |
| C | Evidence in a student's work typically demonstrates a sound level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes |
| D | Evidence in a student's work typically demonstrates a limited level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes |
| E | Evidence in a student's work typically demonstrates a very limited level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes |
^ Top of page
What information is provided for my child's Effort and Behaviour?
In addition to written comments your child's Effort and Behaviour are also reported using an A-E rating:
A Excellent
B Very good
C Satisfactory
D Needs attention
E Unacceptable
^ Top of page
What is an unexplained absence?
The school records all student absences. If a student is absent and the school does not receive an explanation for the absence from the student's parent / caregiver, it is recorded as an unexplained absence. The total unexplained absences on your child's report may include whole days and half days of unexplained absence from the school. For more details about when your child has been absent without explanation, please contact the school.
^ Top of page
Can the school supplement the student report with additional information?
Yes. The inclusion of any additional information to support your child's report is to be decided at the school level.
^ Top of page
What other information will I receive about my child's progress?
The student report is just one of a number of strategies schools use to communicate with you. Your school may also supplement this student report with additional information. All state schools will also be offering parent-teacher interviews.
^ Top of page
How often do teachers need to meet with parents?
Every school must offer parent-teacher interviews every semester. Parents can decline an interview if their needs are met in another way. A group parent-teacher session can take the place of one of the parent-teacher interviews as long as the teacher, at this group session, invites parents to take up the opportunity for an individual meeting.
^ Top of page
Do the student reporting requirements apply to all year levels?
All Queensland state schools must comply with the Australian Government's student reporting requirements for Years 1-10 students. The Australian Government has agreed that these changes do not apply to state schools reporting on students in the Preparatory Year or in Years 11-12.
^ Top of page
Will my child in Year 11 or 12 receive the same student report as my child in Year 7?
Reports to parents on the achievements of students in Years 11 and 12 are already based on five levels of achievement, and this will not change.
^ Top of page
What about my child in the Preparatory Year?
Reporting in the Preparatory Year is underpinned by the overall monitoring of students' learning and development using the Early Learning Record in Queensland's Early Years Curriculum Guidelines. The Early Years Curriculum Guidelines incorporate a play-based curriculum with diagnostic assessment and reporting. This allows the monitoring of students' progress to report to parents, identify students in need of assistance and inform Year 1 teachers of students' capabilities. The Early Learning Record is used to inform face-to-face reporting twice a year to parents of students in the Preparatory Year.
^ Top of page
How will reporting for students with a disability be accommodated?
The majority of students with a disability will have multiple opportunities to achieve and consolidate the same age-cohort mandated curriculum, with reasonable adjustments, to assist with their achievement. The achievement of these students in the learning areas will be reported on the Standard report using the five achievement ratings.
For some students the impact of their disability will limit their access to some aspects of their same age-cohort mandated curriculum (e.g. the physical education aspects of the Health and Physical Education KLA). For these aspects, the student's learning program will be drawn from the mandated curriculum and documented as individual goals. Their achievement will be reported on the Standard report with comments reflecting those aspects of their learning that have been varied from their same age-cohort peers.
There are a very few number of students who are unable to access any learning areas with their same age cohort peers. These students will receive an Optional report that shows achievement ratings against learning areas indicated in their individual goals.
^ Top of page
How will reporting for students with English Language needs be accommodated?
Students who have English as second or additional language (ESL) needs, are those students who do not speak English as their home language. They may have migrant/refugee backgrounds or be Australian Indigenous students. These students will access all learning areas as for their same age-cohort.
Limited facility with Standard Australian English may limit access to assessment tasks for some of these students. Use of the five achievement ratings for reporting achievement in learning areas may be delayed for the initial 12 months of schooling for these students also accessing intensive ESL support, (note that this does not apply to students in Far North Queensland accessing the Bound for Success Curriculum). This delay is for reporting achievement ratings twice yearly only; students will still be assessed in each of the learning areas throughout the assessment period.
ESL learners should receive an attachment to their report which indicates their English language attainment against ESL bandscale levels.
^ Top of page
Regardless of the curriculum framework or organisational structure adopted at your school, all state school student reports will use the Years 1-3 and Years 4-10 Achievement Codes to describe student achievement.
^ Top of page
Will I know how well my child is going compared to other students in the same year level across Queensland?
In the middle of Year 2, your child's progress in Literacy and Numeracy will be monitored against Reading, Writing and Number developmental continua. You will receive a report on your child's achievement at that time.
When your child is in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 you will receive an additional report describing your child's performance in Literacy and Numeracy. It will provide information on how your child performed compared to other student in Australia and to the national benchmarks in reading, writing, punctuation and grammar and numeracy. These tests are held in May, and individual reports are issued in August.
^ Top of page
Will I know how well my child is going compared to others in their year level at the school?
It is a requirement of the Australian Government that parents have access to information that shows their child's achievement compared to that of other children in their child's year level at the school.
Parents may request the school to provide them with information that shows the number of students in the same year level as their child at the school who achieved each of the ratings in that learning area. Due to privacy issues, this comparative information will only be provided where there is no risk that an individual student's achievement rating may be able to be identified.
^ Top of page
How will I know what the expected level of achievement for the learning area and year level is?
All students will have access to the mandated curriculum. In Years 1-9 this will be the QCAR Essential Learnings.
In Year 10 students will have access to a program that consolidates and extends their knowledge and skills in preparation for Years 11 and 12. It is not expected that students will begin studying Year 11 and 12 courses or subjects in Year 10.
^ Top of page
Other languages