Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) is committed to delivering a Catholic education that supports students in their spiritual, intellectual, social and emotional, physical and creative development.
Catholic schools participate in school, system, state, national and international assessments as a way of monitoring the progress of students, schools and the CEWA system.
Pre-Primary
OnEntry Assessment Program
The OnEntry Assessment Program is a mandatory Pre-primary assessment conducted in Term 1 to ensure the school has information about each child’s current knowledge and skills to assist in the planning and delivery of targeted learning programs.
Primary
Early Years Literacy and Numeracy Data (EYLND)
The Early Years Literacy and Numeracy Data (EYLND) program comprises the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement and the Mathematics Assessment Interview conducted in Term 1 of Year 1. These assessments enable the monitoring of student progress in literacy and numeracy.
Primary and Secondary
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was introduced in 2008 and is managed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). NAPLAN comprises a series of compulsory tests focused on basic skills that are administered in May each year to all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. These standardised tests assess reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. NAPLAN testing is not intended to fully measure all aspects of students’ learning.
NAPLAN will move from the current paper-based test to computer-based assessments (NAPLAN Online) over a two-three year period commencing in 2018. NAPLAN Online features ‘tailored testing’ which gives students questions that are more suited to their ability – resulting in better assessment and more precise results.
CEWA provides analysis of NAPLAN data that assists schools in identifying teaching and learning practices that require improvement. The data shows that Catholic schools have shown significant improvement in student achievement and that they consistently perform better than the state and national cohorts.
NAPLAN results
Individual school NAPLAN results can be viewed on the MySchool Website: www.myschool.edu.au
To learn more about NAPLAN: www.nap.edu.au
Senior Secondary
Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA)
The OLNA is an online literacy and numeracy assessment administered by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) in Year 10, 11 and 12. It is designed to enable students to successfully meet the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) literacy and numeracy requirement in which students must demonstrate the skills regarded as essential to meet the demands of everyday life and work.
Students who have achieved Year 9 NAPLAN Band 8 or higher in the three components of reading, writing and numeracy have met the standard and are not required to sit the corresponding OLNA test.
Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE)
The WACE is awarded by SCSA to senior secondary school students who satisfy its requirements. It is a certificate recognised nationally in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Achievement of the WACE signifies that a student has successfully met the breadth and depth standard, the achievement standard, and the literacy and numeracy standard (OLNA) in their senior secondary schooling.
To meet the WACE requirements students must select General and/or ATAR courses from both List A (Arts, Languages, Social Sciences) and List B (Mathematics, Science, Technology).
Religion and Life is a compulsory List A course in our Catholic schools and is studied as a General or ATAR course. CEWA schools are consistently among the top 15 schools in the state in the Religion and Life ATAR course. More than 80% of CEWA students who studied the Religion and Life ATAR course used their score to contribute to their final ATAR.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) industry specific courses and Endorsed programs are available as alternative pathways for students to achieve the WACE.
Students with special learning needs are catered for and can complete the Preliminary courses to achieve the WACE.
WACE results
CEWA schools are among the top WACE performing schools in the state and cater for all students, whether they are aspiring to undertake university or further training, or entering the workforce.
School Curriculum and Standards Authority website
Reporting
All schools regularly monitor, evaluate and report on each student’s achievement. Teachers use their professional judgement when monitoring students’ progress and determining grades for reporting, consistent with the school’s assessment policies and the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) reporting policy. Teachers use a variety of tools and resources to support them in assessing and recording student achievement.