DALIA SABLE

AUSTRALIA’S Jewish schools have achieved above average results in the federal Government’s new ranking system for schools.

The My School website compares schools’ performances in reading and writing, and in numeracy tests, using the results from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). All Australian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit the NAPLAN tests.

Most of Australia’s 17 Jewish schools scored above the average 500 score for reading, however, at some year levels, certain schools ranked lower than comparative independent and state schools.

Nechama Bendet, co-chair of the Australian Council of Jewish Schools (ACJS), praised the website for improving the transparency of schools’ results. She did warn against putting too much focus on the rankings though.

“The ACJS supports parents’ rights to have access to as much quality information as possible about their child’s school. While there are many variables that are not contained in the scores, properly used, they can show areas of need,” she said.

“However, parents should consider school information beyond raw numbers, including teacher quality, engagement with parents, extracurricular activities and the school’s educational, cultural, religious and social goals.”

Rabbi James Kennard, principal of Melbourne’s Mount Scopus Memorial College -– the top Victorian school for year 12 results in 2009 -– agreed.

“Our NAPLAN results show that our children performed at a much higher level than the national average, and are broadly in line with children in similar schools.

“In some areas, our children exceeded those of the schools to which we were compared, and in other areas, they were slightly lower,” he said.

“[NAPLAN results] only tell us about English and maths, and only how children of certain year levels performed on one particular day. The crude averages do not tell parents about how each child is learning, how they are progressing from year to year.”

Rabbi Kennard added that there is a danger in a school being judged on their NAPLAN scores alone because some institutions will alter their focus to ensure the rankings improve at the expense of other areas.

Principal of Sydney’s Yeshiva College, Rebbetzin Pnina Feldman, said she was thrilled by the Chabad-Lubavitch school’s results.

“It is particularly pleasing to receive such wonderful news so early in our school’s history,” she said, crediting the school’s teachers.

Using NAPLAN scores, the My School site compares one school’s results against other “statistically similar schools”.