[LINK] ICT Proficiency Standards

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

'Nationally, 57 per cent of Year 6 students, and, 66 percent of Year 10 
students reach or exceed a ‘challenging but reasonable’ ICT proficiency 
standard..'

www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/nap_ictl_2008_report_press_release,31023.html

22 April 2010: 

National Year 6 and Year 10 Information and Communication Technology 
(ICT) Literacy Results

The Hon. Julia Gillard, MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Commonwealth 
Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, today 
released the 2008 National ICT Literacy Sample Assessment results for 
Year 6 and Year 10 students on behalf of the Ministerial Council for 
Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. (MCEECDYA)

This report is the second to be published on ICT Literacy in the cycle of 
three-yearly sample assessments conducted by MCEECDYA as part of its 
National Assessment Program (NAP). 

The assessment measured students’ ability to access, manage, integrate 
and evaluate information, develop new understandings, and communicate 
with others in order to participate effectively in society.

The assessment was conducted in October 2008, with 5,604 Year 6 students 
from 299 schools & 5,322 Year 10 students from 292 schools participating. 
The participating students were from both government and non-government 
schools.

Results of the assessment show that nationally 57 per cent of Year 6 
students reached or exceeded the Year 6 proficient standard and 66 
percent of Year 10 students reached or exceeded the Year 10 proficient 
standard. This represents improvement on the 2005 assessment results of 8 
per cent for Year 6 students and 5 per cent for Year 10 students.

The proficient standard represents a ‘challenging but reasonable’ 
expectation for typical Year 6 and 10 students to have reached by the end 
of each of those years of study.

The report also found that a student’s socioeconomic background had the 
biggest effect on their performance, with 41 per cent of Year 6 students 
whose parents are from the “unskilled manual, office and sales” 
occupational groups attaining the proficient standard, compared to 72 per 
cent of students whose parents are from the “senior managers and 
professionals” occupational group. In Year 10 the corresponding figures 
are 52 per cent and 78 per cent.

Significant differences in performance were also found to be associated 
with Indigenous status and remote geographic locations. The gap in ICT 
literacy achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is 
greater in 2008 than it was in 2005, with Indigenous students achieving 
the proficient standard at less than half the rate of non-Indigenous 
students. Metropolitan students tended to record higher ICT literacy 
scores than students in provincial areas, who in turn recorded higher 
scores than those in remote areas.

The next ICT Literacy assessment will be conducted in 2011. The results 
of that cycle will allow trends to be identified based on three 
comparable datasets. The information derived from these national 
assessments enables us to better understand and improve our children’s 
skills and knowledge.

To download the report, click here:

<http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/NAP-ICTL_report_2008.pdf>

The NAP ICT Literacy 2008 School Assessment Exemplars are also available, 
to download click here:

<http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/ICTL2008_Assessment_Exemplars
_Preface.pdf>

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Cheers,
Stephen