As a school leader, you are responsible for planning, implementing, monitoring and reporting on achievements in Aboriginal education through improved practices and student outcomes.

When establishing improvement measures aligned with strategic directions, schools with Aboriginal students should include the appropriate system-negotiated targets. These targets include improvements in literacy and numeracy for all Aboriginal students, and for secondary schools, reporting on progress towards Aboriginal student HSC attainment while maintaining cultural identity.

Given the under representation of Aboriginal students in the top 2 bands in NAPLAN for reading and numeracy, it is considered appropriate that system-negotiated targets may be an increase in the number of Aboriginal students in the top 3 bands in NAPLAN reading and numeracy. This will ensure the breadth of school strategies are focused on delivering the difference for a greater number of our Aboriginal students, as we move towards parity of outcomes for Aboriginal students.

Configuring system-negotiated targets

More information about system-negotiated targets are provided in the system-negotiated targets table.

Examples

See the following examples of configuring system-negotiated targets for Aboriginal students.

Aboriginal student achievement (example)

• Aboriginal student achievement: Proportion of Aboriginal students achieving NAPLAN top 3 bands.
  • Option 1: Schools may state the baseline and agreed range of the school-based target - for example: the proportion of Aboriginal students achieving top 3 bands in reading increases from 50% (baseline) to 57%-63% (range).
  • Option 2: Schools may state the agreed uplift in their improvement measure as a target - for example: the proportion of Aboriginal students achieving top 3 bands in reading increases by 7%.

Aboriginal student HSC attainment (example)

The equity target for HSC attainment commenced in 2020. The uplift is based on average Aboriginal student attainment across networks. There is no requirement for schools or networks to separately measure 'maintenance of cultural identity'.

• Aboriginal student HSC attainment: the proportion or number of Aboriginal students attaining the HSC (secondary schools only):
  • Increase the proportion of Aboriginal students attaining Year 12 by 50%, while maintaining their cultural identity.

The sample Strategic Improvement Plan - Sample B - Connected communities is clearly aligned with the School Excellence Framework (SEF), with the elements learning, assessment and teaching, and data skills employed as improvement measures in the Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP).

• Strategic direction 1: Student growth and attainment - this is measured and monitored using a combination of system-negotiated and school-determined targets.
• Three major initiatives are planned to support the strategic direction, enabling staff to collaboratively analyse and monitor student performance, thereby targeting teaching.
• Observable improved practices, such as PLPs for Aboriginal students, targeted and differentiated learning enabled by ongoing assessment, and collaborative student monitoring systems are listed as success criteria, and lead to an evaluation plan.

The initiatives are closely aligned with What works best: 2020 update, with professional collaboration, assessment and using data to inform practice leading to explicit teaching.

An analysis of strategic direction 2: Culturally rich curriculum, also demonstrates alignment with the SEF and What works best: 2020 update.

Reflective questions

• Are improvement measures for Aboriginal students explicitly stated in our Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP), including connection to culture and maintaining cultural identity?
• Are improvement measures for our Aboriginal students consistent with the Aboriginal Education Policy - that is, do they aim to match or better the outcomes of the broader student population?
• How can improvement measures for literacy, numeracy, wellbeing, attendance, and HSC attainment be positioned to be inclusive and have high expectations of all our Aboriginal students?
• Are improvement measures for our Aboriginal students effectively designed to account for relative cohort sizes, transience, baseline performance and department/ government commitments?
• Are there different student outcome measures for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in our school? If so, in which areas and for which groups of students? Does this indicate a need for reflection on our practices and initiatives?