Catholic primary schools in Melbourne have boosted their NAPLAN results, thanks to a new way of teaching. Source: The Age.
One of the schools doubled the percentage of students sitting in the “exceeding” and “developing” proficiency bands for numeracy as they moved from year 3 in 2023 to year 5.
The schools attribute the success to the early adoption of explicit teaching, curriculum resources such as lesson plans for teachers, professional development and good, old-fashioned whiteboards.
The Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools analysed students’ NAPLAN results after it overhauled how students learn reading, writing and maths at all its 291 primary schools in February 2024.
The analysis showed those who had been early adopters of the evidence-based teaching philosophy and behaviour instruction were lifting student results by as much as 46 percentage points.
Bethany Catholic Primary School principal Joanne Webster saw her year 3 students’ numeracy results increase by 22 percentage points by the time they reached year 5 this year.
Ms Webster said the Werribee North school had begun with teaching students positive learning behaviours in 2022, then added explicit instruction in 2023. She said the school was also receiving classroom curriculum resources such as lesson plans, which had made a significant difference.
She said the whole-school approach ensured teachers shared a common language across every year level and took part in professional learning.
Explicit instruction promotes direct teaching over student-led or inquiry-based learning, breaking down new concepts into smaller steps and modelling each step before progression. The method is underpinned by a scientific understanding of how students learn.
The decision by the Catholic school sector to switch to the teaching model was followed by the state’s public system.
Shauna-Maree Sykes, the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools chief of education, strategy and performance, said there had been significant improvements in NAPLAN numeracy data across their schools.
“Our data demonstrates a widespread shift in the proficiency levels of our students in year 3, 5, 7 and 9 in numeracy,” Ms Sykes said.
“A large proportion of MACS schools have statistically significant improvements, impacting upon the overall increase in our numeracy proficiency.”
FULL STORY
Catholic primary schools have seen huge jumps in NAPLAN maths results (By Nicole Precel, The Age)
