Frequently asked questions
Information for Principals and Teachers (Revised 12 May, 2008)
Background and expectations of schools
Why has student reporting changed?
What is expected of schools from 2007 with respect to the changes to student reporting?
What will schools communicate to parents?
How many times in a school year do parents/caregivers need to receive a student report?
How often do teachers need to meet with parents?
Should the school keep a copy of the student reports?
Reporting for students
Do the student reporting requirements apply to all year levels?
What about Students with Disabilities and Students in Alternative Settings?
How will reporting for students with a disability be accommodated?
How will reporting for students requiring targeted and/or intensive teaching be accommodated?
How will reporting for ESL (English as Second Language) learners be accommodated?
How will reporting for students on alternative programs be accommodated?
Which students are eligible for an Optional report?
What about the Preparatory Year?
How will students accessing an extended or accelerated curriculum be accommodated?
For students accessing a flexible arrangement, and where the curriculum is individualised, is there an expectation that the school will report on all learning areas?
What if Year 10 students are engaged in a senior phase curriculum program?
Student reporting using the standardised templates
What information is included in the standardised templates?
What are the Achievement Codes?
Do the Achievement codes relate to the Queensland Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Framework (QCARF) standards?
What Learning Areas need to be reported on using the Achievement, Effort and Behaviour codes?
How will Effort be reported?
How will Behaviour be reported?
What achievement code should I use to rate a student's performance in a learning area that fits into the category - "Your child has also been assessed in the following"?
What changes then, if any, can be made at the school level?
Does the 'comments' column have to be used in the student report template?
What constitutes an appropriate comment?
Which student reporting templates should teachers use?
Can the school supplement the student report with additional information?
Can the school redefine the codes for Achievement, Effort and Behaviour?
Can the format of the student report templates be altered to meet the school's needs?
What rating should be given if a student didn't undertake study in a learning area in any one semester?
What rating should be given if students do not produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate achievement over a reporting period?
How will the student reports be generated?
Schools with different approaches to curriculum organisation
How does this reporting affect schools with different approaches to curriculum organisation?
Can schools continue to organise curriculum around themes, integrated units or Rich Tasks?
In schools where the curriculum is organised into integrated units or where schools are enacting Rich Tasks are teachers required to rate and comment on each learning area?
How will schools rate achievement for specific learning areas incorporating integrated units or Rich Tasks?
Are schools also able to report holistically on an integrated unit?
What if the school is multi-age/non-graded?
Does this mean that outcomes are not being used anymore?
Reporting comparative information
What comparative information are schools required to make available to parents?
What format will this information need to be in so that it can be shared with parents?
Is the sharing of distribution information required for small cohorts of students?
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Why has student reporting 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 for all schools (government and non-government):
The student report must include, for the subjects studied, an assessment against achievement levels or bands defined by the education authority or school, being levels or bands that:
- must be labelled as A, B, C, D, E (or an equivalent); and
- should be clearly defined against specific learning standards.
Following negotiations with the Australian Government regarding quartile reporting, the Australian Government has agreed that Queensland state schools must provide 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.
The Quadrennial Administrative Guidelines provided by the Australian Government also specify that:
In Queensland state schools it is expected that parents will receive a report on their child's achievement in each learning area studied as well as progress against any specific individual goals.
In addition, 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. Reporting in Years 11-12 is currently based on a five-point scale.
Further, for students participating in Years 3, 5, 7 or 9 National Literacy and Numeracy Tests, a report from the Queensland Studies Authority must be provided to parents for each child. This report describes how their child performed compared to other students in Australia and to the national benchmarks in reading, writing, punctuation and grammar, and numeracy.
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What is expected of schools from 2007 with respect to the changes to student reporting?
To assist schools to comply with the requirements of the Australian Government, a common format for student reporting has been introduced for all state schools. This common format in the form of standard templates has been developed for Years 1-10. The templates set out a reporting format based on the Key Learning Areas. Copies of the student report templates, and examples may be accessed online.
To support the implementation of the student reporting requirements, schools will be asked to use the Word templates provided or the OneSchool format if they have access to it. From 2009 all schools will use the OneSchool format.
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What will schools communicate to parents?
Principals will need to inform parents of any changes to student reporting. The Questions and Answers for Parents may be distributed to parents or incorporated over time into school newsletters.
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How many times in a school year do parents/caregivers need to receive a student report?
Schools need to formally report student progress to parents / caregivers at least twice per school year. The format of the student report template must be used in all schools from 2007 for these formal reports. Schools do not need to use the standard student report template for other interim reports to parents. Plain English should be used at all times when reporting to parents.
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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.
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Should the school keep a copy of the student reports?
It is a legal requirement that student reports be kept for seven years. Schools should ensure they implement processes to ensure compliance with this legal requirement.
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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.
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What about Students with Disabilities, ESL learners and Students in Alternative Settings?
Education Queensland has an expectation that all students will have the opportunity to access the mandated curriculum.
Although formal reporting on student achievement using a five point scale must occur twice a year, there is an expectation that teachers use a range of other strategies throughout the year to provide parents with ongoing feedback on student progress. These other strategies provided throughout the reporting period, should ensure that there are 'no surprises' for parents about the achievement of their son/daughter on receiving the twice-yearly formal report.
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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.
For information on what constitutes reasonable adjustments and when and how they might be applied see the Queensland Studies Authority 
(new window) 
website.
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How will reporting for students requiring targeted and/or intensive teaching (previously known as 'students with learning difficulties') be accommodated?
Some students require targeted and intensive teaching to achieve same age-cohort expectations. In addition, some students require reasonable adjustments to enable access to and completion of, assessment tasks. The school will provide this. For these students, reporting of their achievement will be against their same age-cohort on the Standard report.
For information on what constitutes reasonable adjustments and when and how they might be applied see the Queensland Studies Authority (new window) website.
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How will reporting for ESL (English as Second Language) Learners 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 must still be assessed in each of the learning areas throughout the assessment period. They must still receive the Standard report twice yearly with all fields completed except for the achievement rating.
ESL learners in intensive ESL programs should receive an attachment to their report which indicates their attainment against ESL bandscale levels; (NLLIA ESL Bandscales, Bandscales for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander learners, Bandscales for ESL Learners in the Scope and Sequence Years 1-9).
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How will reporting for students on alternative programs be accommodated?
A student on an alternative program (i.e. in an alternative education setting) is required to have a program of work derived from the KLA syllabuses. Their achievement will be reported using the standard format of the primary and secondary student reports.
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Which students are eligible for an Optional report?
There are a very small number of students with a disability who are unable to access any of the 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.
Students requiring targeted and intensive teaching (previously known as 'students with learning difficulties') are not able to receive an Optional report but will receive a Standard report.
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What about the Preparatory Year?
Reporting in the Preparatory Year is underpinned by the overall monitoring of students' learning and development using the Early Learning Record (ELR) in Queensland's Early Years Curriculum Guidelines (EYCG). The EYCG incorporates 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 ELR is used to inform face-to-face reporting twice a year to parents of students in the Preparatory Year.
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How will students accessing an extended or accelerated curriculum be accommodated?
The student report template allows for additional learning areas to be added and reported on. Ratings and comments can be added to provide parents with information about students who are accessing an extension program in any one learning area. Where alternative acceleration programs are being accessed by individual students these should be indicated in their Acceleration Plan and achievement reported on. Valid comparative information can be provided for students accessing these programs if the privacy of other students is protected. For example, a Year 8 student completing Year 10 Mathematics assessment could be compared to the achievement of other Year 10 students being assessed.
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For students accessing a flexible arrangement, and where the curriculum is individualised, is there an expectation that the school will report on all learning areas?
Yes.
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What if Year 10 students at a school are engaged in a senior phase curriculum program?
The Australian Government Regulations require that all students in Years 1-10 receive a report that describes the student's achievement on a five-point scale. If Year 10 students are transitioning to a senior phase curriculum program and they are issued with a report that reflects the senior year's five-point scale, then this meets the requirements.
Students undertaking a competency-based VET program will continue to be rated for that program using the standard competency-based ratings rather than a five-point scale.
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What information is included in the standard template?
The student report template contains the following components:
- Learning areas - each student's report will contain achievement information about each learning area studied, including any school-specific learning areas. The report may also contain information about extracurricular activities.
In primary schools, an overall rating will be used for each learning area studied, however, schools also have the flexibility to include ratings for the strands of that learning area. For example, in the Early Phase of Learning, whilst there will be an overall rating for English, schools may also choose to include a rating for reading, writing, listening or speaking.
For students in the later stages of the Middle Phase of Learning and the Senior Phase, whilst an overall rating may be given for a specific learning area e.g. SOSE, the school may choose to provide instead separate ratings for specific subject/s areas studied e.g. History, Geography etc.
For students in Year 10 undertaking senior subjects as part of their transition to the Senior Phase of Learning, subjects and ratings may reflect the five-point scale that is used in the senior years.
- Achievement Codes - describe the student's overall achievement by using a rating and descriptor 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 is reported for each student against an A-E rating for each learning area.
- Behaviour in Years 1-7 is reported against an A-E overall rating for each student.
- Behaviour in Years 8-10 is reported against an A-E rating for each learning area.
- Written comments outline what a student has achieved and provide advice on areas for improvement.
- Information is also provided on the Year 2 Diagnostic Net reports and the Queensland Literacy and Numeracy Tests for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
- Number of days absent and unexplained absences is also required.
- A statement must be provided 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.
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What are the Achievement Codes?
The Achievement Codes describe the student'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 high level of knowledge and understanding of concepts, facts and procedures, and application of processes) for each learning area studied against what is expected at the time of reporting.
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Do the Achievement codes relate to the Queensland Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Framework (QCARF) standards?
Yes. The codes used for Years 4-9 are the same as the QCARF standards. Those used for Years 1-3 are currently not the same but align very closely to the QCARF standards. The codes are criteria based.
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What Learning Areas need to be reported on using the Achievement, Effort and Behaviour codes on the student report template?
For Years 1-7, schools must provide a relevant Achievement rating and an Effort rating for each of the learning areas studied by the student in the reporting period, as well as an overall rating for Behaviour for the student.
For Years 1-10, schools must provide an Achievement rating and a rating for Effort and Behaviour for each of the learning areas studied by the student in the reporting period.
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How will Effort be reported?
Schools will report on the effort of all students using the Effort A-E ratings on the student report template.
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How will Behaviour be reported?
- Schools will report on the behaviour of all students using the Behaviour A-E ratings on the student report template. Behaviour in Years 1-7 is reported using an A-E overall rating for each student.
- Comments relating to a student's behaviour should also be provided by each teacher.
- Behaviour in Years 8-10 is reported using an A-E rating for each learning area.
A student's behaviour may be rated against predetermined criteria that are articulated in the school's Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students or against the standards already stated for students in the Code of School Behaviour.
What achievement code should I use to rate a student's performance in a learning area that fits into the category - "Your child has also been assessed in the following"?
The ratings for "Other Learning Areas" must be the same as those used for the "Learning Areas" of the report, that is, Very High to Support Required for Years 1-3 and A-E for Years 4-10. The only exception is where students have completed a VET module, which is reported in the "Other Learning Areas" section of the report. VET modules are rated as competent or not competent.
What changes then, if any, can be made by schools to the format of the standard template?
Whilst the Australian Government Regulations state that an assessment must be given for each learning area studied, the content for the learning areas will vary from school to school.
In primary schools, an overall rating will be used for each learning area studied. However, schools also have the flexibility to include ratings for the strands of that learning area. For example, in the Early Phase of Learning, whilst there will be an overall rating for English, schools may also choose to include a rating for reading, writing, listening or speaking.
For students in the later stages of the Middle Phase of Learning and the Senior Phase, whilst an overall rating may be given for a specific learning area e.g. SOSE, the school may choose to provide instead separate ratings for specific subject/s areas studied e.g. History, Geography etc. The student report templates will allow schools the option of adding specific learning area subjects (e.g. Music, Drama, French) under the relevant learning area (e.g. The Arts, LOTE).
The student report templates will allow schools, which are using curriculum and organisational structures such as Rich Tasks or integrated programs, to report in specific learning areas e.g. English and the option of reporting the overall performance of the student in the Rich Task or activity. Schools are able to insert additional sections to the template to report these school specific learning areas or programs.
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Does the Comments column have to be used in the student report template?
Yes.
A comment needs to be entered for each learning area studied. If the school is providing additional information, then a 'See additional information' comment should appear in the Comments column. If a student has not completed study or assessment in any learning area, then a 'Not assessed in this period' comment should be entered.
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What constitutes an appropriate comment?
Comments should be in 'plain English'. Comments should:
- focus on what the student has achieved
- provide direction about how the student can improve.
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Which student reporting template should teachers use?
There are three standard templates to be used:
- Years 1-3
- Years 4-7
- Years 8-10
An Optional reporting template has been provided to allow reporting for Students with Disabilities unable to access any learning areas with their same age-cohort peers, to be tailored where necessary.
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Can the school supplement the student report with additional information?
Yes. The student report template provided meets the minimum expectations of both the Changes to School Reporting requirements of the Queensland Government and the Australian Government Regulations. The inclusion of any additional information to support this report is to be decided at the school level. Any additional material must be written in 'plain English'.
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Can the school re-define the codes for Achievement, Effort, and Behaviour?
The Achievement Codes and the Effort and the Behaviour Codes cannot be altered in the standard student report template. One of the major findings of the extensive consultation with the Queensland education community in 2004 was the need for consistency across schools for student reporting.
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Can the format of the student report template be altered to meet the school's needs?
It will be necessary for all schools to implement the format of the standard template in 2008. The format of the standard student report template cannot be changed. While the format cannot be changed, the section denoted by "Your child has also been assessed in the following:" is meant for reporting student achievement in other learning areas such as Rich Tasks and integrated units. This section as well as the section denoted as "Your child has also participated in the following extracurricular activities:" may be deleted from the report if they do not apply to the student. These are the only sections of the student report template that may be deleted.
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What rating should be given if a student didn't undertake study in a learning area in any one semester?
Whilst no rating should be given, the comment "Not assessed in this period" should be included in the Comments section of the student report templates for that learning area.
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What rating should be given if students do not produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate achievement over a reporting period?
A rating of "N" (Insufficient evidence to make a judgment) may be given to those students who were unable to complete the assessment requirement due to a range of factors, including illness and recent enrolment.
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How will student reports be generated?
To support the implementation of the student reporting requirements, standard student report templates will be included in SMS from 2007 for those schools which use SMS for student reporting.
Schools in which OneSchool has been deployed will use the reporting functionality in the OneSchool application to report student academic achievement. OneSchool will be deployed in Queensland state schools that are operating in the managed environment (MOE) during 2008.
Whilst a school may choose to use their own or a commercial software package to produce the reports, it will be necessary for all schools to implement the format of the standard template in 2008.
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How does this reporting affect schools with different approaches to curriculum organisation?
Regardless of the curriculum framework or organisational structure adopted at the school level, the student report template details the minimum requirements for reporting student achievement in the mandated learning areas as well as rating the student's Effort and Behaviour.
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Can schools continue to organise curriculum around themes, integrated units or Rich Tasks?
Yes. Reporting against learning areas does not require schools to organise their curriculum around learning areas. Schools are free to choose relevant and meaningful ways to organise curriculum.
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In schools where the curriculum is organised into integrated units or where schools are enacting Rich Tasks are teachers required to rate and comment on each Learning Area?
Yes.
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How will schools rate achievement for specific learning areas incorporating integrated units or Rich Tasks?
Teachers will need to break down each unit or Rich Task into its component learning areas to extract information that will contribute to the student's final result in those learning areas. This should be done using professional judgments against the evidence provided by students. An overall rating for each learning area should be given that represents student achievement on all tasks for the reporting period.
This process is not essential for rating Effort and Behaviour.
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Are schools also able to report holistically on an integrated unit or set of tasks undertaken during a reporting period?
Yes.
Extra rows can be inserted at the bottom of the student report templates for integrated units or set of tasks undertaken during a reporting period. Further information may also be attached to the student report, if it is required.
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What if the school is multi-age/non-graded?
Since the regulations apply to all schools, comparative information relating to student achievement for the child's peer group (defined as all children at the school who are undertaking the same year level as the child in a year) must still be available on request. The school must ensure that the privacy of individual students will not be compromised.
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Does this mean that outcomes are not being used anymore?
QCAR Essential Learnings and Standards Years 1-9 have been informed by current world research on knowledge, learning and assessment and have been drawn from the KLA outcomes based syllabuses and the National Statements of Learning. The Essential Learnings and Standards Years 1-9 are now the core of a school's curriculum in Education Queensland schools.
Schools may use the outcomes based syllabuses and support materials as a resource to assist with planning. The QSA is currently developing a new set of syllabuses which have the Essential Learnings and Standards as major components.
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What comparative information are schools required to make available to parents?
If a parent makes a request, Australian Government Regulations require the school to provide them with written information that clearly shows their child's achievement in the learning areas studied, in comparison to that of other children in the child's peer group at the school. This information will show them the number of students in each of the achievement ratings. Comparative information does not need to be provided for ratings against Effort or Behaviour. Note that the privacy of individual students must be maintained in this process.
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What format will this information need to be in so that it can be shared with parents?
One way that schools may wish to share this information with parents is by using a simple table or histogram to show the distribution of students in each of the ratings.
| Year 7 English Semester Two, 2006 |
| Rating | A | B | C | D | E | N |
| Counts | 11 | 17 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
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Is the sharing of distribution information required for small cohorts of students?
Australian Government Regulations also state that the information on distribution of students in each of the ratings must be presented in such a way that it does not interfere with the privacy of the individual. Schools should follow the Policy Guidelines: Annual Reporting by Queensland Schools to ensure that the privacy of individual students in a small cohort or a small school will not be compromised.
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