National Indigenous Reform Agreement: PI 13—Attendance rates Year 1 to Year 10, 2017

Collection and usage attributes

Presentation:

Measure (a) as a per cent of possible days of attendance

Measure (b) as a proportion of students

Measure (c) as a number and proportion of schools

Measure (a)

100 x (Numerator ÷ Denominator).

Measure (b)

Numerator ÷ Denominator

Measure (c)

Numerator ÷ Denominator

Measure (a)

Aggregate number of actual days in attendance in the collection period, for children in years 1–10 (children enrolled full time only^[1]).

Measure (b)

Sum of possible school days for students attending more than or equal to 90 per cent of possible days in the collection period, for children in years 1–10 (children enrolled full time only^[1]).

Measure (c)

(Indigenous) Aggregate number of schools for which the average attendance rate for Indigenous students in years 1–10 is 90 per cent or more

(non-Indigenous) Aggregate number of schools for which the average attendance rate for non-Indigenous students in years 1–10 is 90 per cent or more.

[1] See National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting Section 6.7

Measure (a)

Aggregate number of possible days for attendance in the collection period, for children in years 1–10 (children enrolled full time only^[1]).

Measure (b)

Sum of possible school days (the days each student is expected to attend) for all students in the collection period, for children in years 1–10 (children enrolled full time only^[1]).

Measure (c)

(Indigenous) Aggregate number of schools reporting Indigenous student attendance rates for years 1–10.

(non-Indigenous) Aggregate number of schools reporting non-Indigenous student attendance rates for years 1–10.

[1] See National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting Section 6.3

Measure (a)

National and state/territory, by Indigenous status, by:

• Combined for year levels and school sectors, by remoteness
• Year level (1–10 individually), by school sector (government, Catholic, independent)

Measure (b)

National and state/territory, by Indigenous status, by

• Combined year levels for government sector, by remoteness
• Combined year levels for non-government sector, by remoteness

Measure (c)

National and state/territory, by Indigenous status, by

• Combined year levels and sectors, by remoteness.

Most recent data available for 2017 report (2015–16 reporting cycle) are for 2016.

Data availability:

Measure (a) 2016 (Semester 1).

Measures (b) and (c) 2016 (Semester 1).

Data are also collected for Term 3, but not reported in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) performance report.

Baseline year for NIRA target (Close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance within five years) is 2014 (Semester 1); target year is 2018 (Semester 1 2019).

In May 2014, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a new target to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance within five years (by the end of 2018). COAG also agreed that the high level performance indicator to monitor the target would be the overall attendance rates for Year 1 to Year 10 by Indigenous status and remoteness.

Prior to 2015, no national school attendance rates were published for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, nor were overall rates published for each jurisdiction. Rather data were published for each year level (1 to 10) for each jurisdiction for the three sectors (government, Catholic and independent). For practical reasons it was decided that the gap at the overall national level and one gap for each of the 8 jurisdictions should be monitored. Under this approach, an overall attendance rate for year 1 to 10 students needs to be calculated. This approach is consistent with arrangements for the other targets.

It was not previously possible to calculate a national average attendance rate (measure (a)) as measurement varied by jurisdiction and across sectors; however, now all sectors and jurisdictions have adopted the National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting.

Additional reporting by remoteness areas (within state and territory jurisdiction, and at national level using the education standard categories) will also be required to provide a useful context for monitoring where gains are being made.

While measuring progress against this target using data across year 1 to 10, it will be important that the existing data by year level continue to be published (that is data for each year level) to allow for an understanding of how attendance at each year level is contributing to progress against the target.

For measure (b), data for government schools are not directly comparable with data for non-government schools. For government schools, data are based on the National Standard for Student Attendance Reporting 2015, while non-government school student level data are based on a different (non-standard) measure.

Counting ‘schools’:

Measure (c) refers to number and proportion of ‘schools’. Student attendance data are collected at both a campus and/or school level. For NIRA reporting of the total number of schools, it has been agreed to count only head campuses and single campus schools.

Exclusion of certain schools:

Schools where student attendance rates have not been provided by the jurisdictions or Australian Government Department of Education and Training (on behalf of the Catholic and Independent sectors), or where rates have been suppressed due to small numbers (that is, based on less than 6 students) are excluded from both the numerator and denominator in the calculation of the percentage of measure (c). These schools cannot be counted in the numerator as no statement can be made as to whether their attendance rate is under or over 90 per cent.

Similarly, if either of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous attendance rates is based on less than 6 students, then neither rate is collected. The result is that around 30 per cent of schools will not have either rate. As with the total student attendance rate, schools not reporting the Indigenous and non-Indigenous attendance rates will be excluded from both the numerator and denominator for the per cent of schools above 90% attendance rates.

Representational attributes

NN[N]

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

Specification: Long-term.

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes