Mandated literacy assessment and the reorganisation of teachers’ work: federal policy, local effects

Abstract

This paper explores how mandated literacy assessment is reorganising teachers' work in the context of Australia's National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy, which was implemented in 2008. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are tested annually, with school results publicly available. The wider policy context and the emergence of different forms of interconnected educational work associated with the testing phenomenon are described. Taking an institutional ethnography approach, the local effects of the federal policy regime are examined through a case study of one school. What mandated literacy assessment does to educators' work in a culturally diverse low-socioeconomic school community is discussed. Key themes include strategic exclusions of students from the testing process, appropriations and adaptations of literacy theory, work intensification and ethical mediation of results. Questions concerning equity are raised about the differential effects of policy in different school contexts.

Keywords:

• ethnography
• institutional equity
• literacy
• policy
• standardised testing
• teachers’ work

Acknowledgements

Mandated Literacy Assessment and the Reorganisation of Teachers' Work is an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (No. DP0986449) between the University of South Australia, Queensland University of Technology and Deakin University in Australia and York and Victoria Universities in Canada. The chief investigators are Barbara Comber, Phillip Cormack, Helen Nixon, Alex Kostogriz and Brenton Doecke. Partner investigators in Canada are Dorothy Smith and Alison Griffith. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author only. The author thanks Alison Griffith, Lyn Kerkham, Helen Nixon and the CSE reviewers of this paper for helpful feedback and critique.

Notes

1. In the Australian context I am referring to the states and territories, with reference in this paper to South Australia and Victoria. In Canada the states and territories equate with the province.

2. In 2008, the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) commenced in Australian schools. The NAPLAN program continues with all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 being assessed using national tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. Whilst NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy the study reported here is concerned only with literacy. The data from the NAPLAN test results gives schools and systems the ability to compare their students’ achievements against national standards and with student achievement in other states and territories. It also allows the monitoring of progress over time. http://www.naplan.edu.au/ (retrieved February, 9, 2010).

3. Waterwell is a pseudonym. I would like to thank the educators at this school for their openness, professional commitment and generosity in welcoming our research and informing our work. Confidentiality requirements prevent me from acknowledging them by name. Individual members of the research team have worked in particular schools to ensure continuity and more fully develop trust with the community. The author and a Research Assistant have worked with Waterwell over a three-year period. This paper has been written by the author only.

4. At the time of writing the Australian Education Union was encouraging its members to participate in a national boycott of the 2010 tests.

5. See for example Athanasou and Deftereos (2010), Year 3 NAPLAN*-style tests produced by Pascal Press independently of Australian governments and on sale at Australian Post Offices at a cost Aus$19.99. This particular booklet contains five sample tests for Numeracy, Language Conventions and Reading.

6. In Australia, the term Principal is used to denote the role of Head (UK) or Administrator (Canada). The Assistant Principal is also known as Deputy in some contexts.

7. Julia Gillard is now the Australian Prime Minister. At the time the initial data were collected she was the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Education and Minister for Social Inclusion.

8. The acronym has been omitted here as it may identify the school. Its meaning is that it is a school needing to improve in literacy.

9. Again the full description of this process and its outcome is not provided here in order to protect the confidentiality of the school and school system concerned.

10. There is an explicit written process for students to be exempted from NAPLAN as described in the Principal's Handbook: http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/accountability/files/links/Principal_Handbook_190310.pd (retrieved March 30, 2010).

11. This refers to a common approach to testing reading comprehension known as ‘cloze procedure’ where words are removed from a printed text and students are asked to predict them, based on meaning and syntax, and write them into their copy.

12. In Australia the NAPLAN tests are conducted and supervised by classroom teachers and school leaders. In an attempt to ensure common test conditions a Test Administration Guide informs teachers how the test must be administered. This includes a script with instructions for teachers to read to students.

13. See for example Burch (2010) for a detailed analysis of new relationships between different kinds of educational institutions and the political economy of testing-related industries.