Australian Schools Defy Odds wiht Explicit Teaching and Data-Driven Strategies
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New NAPLAN data reveals that schools like Springvale Rise Primary in Melbourne and Chatswood Primary in Sydney are achieving remarkable student progress despite meaningful socioeconomic challenges, thanks to a focused approach on explicit instruction and targeted support.
AustraliaS annual NAPLAN results, released today, are highlighting schools that are demonstrably “making a difference” for their students. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is spotlighting institutions that are exceeding expectations given their student demographics, offering a powerful counter-narrative to simplistic rankings based on raw scores.
Springvale Rise: A Beacon of Achievement in melbourne
springvale Rise Primary School in south-east Melbourne exemplifies this success. Despite serving a community where 93% of students come from non-english-speaking backgrounds and 78% are in the bottom quartiles for socioeconomic advantage, the school is achieving above-average results. Principal Debbie Cottier explained that the school’s student body is remarkably diverse, with many families originating from refugee backgrounds, particularly from Burma and Myanmar. “Their journeys are wide and varied.A lot of the parents haven’t had much education themselves,” she said.
yet, roughly two-thirds of Springvale Rise students demonstrated above-average progress in reading, writing, and numeracy between years 3 and 5. This success is attributed to the school’s intensive use of data to identify and address learning gaps.
More than 60% of Chatswood Public students made above-average progress in literacy and numeracy between years 3 and 5, when compared to peers with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Principal Cameron Jones emphasized the rewarding nature of this work. “It’s incredibly rewarding. That’s what we get into teaching… to make a really positive impact and to test the potential of each student,” he said. Deputy Principal rani Holstein highlighted the school’s five-year effort to implement consistent explicit teaching practices across all classrooms, ensuring clear learning objectives and success criteria for students.
The Power of Explicit instruction
Education analyst and former teacher Trisha Jha from the Centre for Independent Studies underscored the effectiveness of this teaching approach.”It would be difficult to point out an example of a school that has had a quick and a sustained advancement in its student results without using explicit instruction,” Ms.Jha noted. She believes that widespread adoption of explicit instruction could substantially improve Australia’s overall NAPLAN results, particularly given that one in three students are currently not meeting expected literacy and numeracy standards.
Rethinking NAPLAN Data and School Comparisons
ACARA is also emphasizing a shift in how NAPLAN data is interpreted. CEO Stephen Gniel explained that focusing solely on raw scores can be misleading, as schools with high-achieving students frequently enough benefit from significant parental advantages. “Our teachers and principals deserve better than us just ranking them in terms of one data point,” Mr. Gniel stated. ACARA’s MySchool website allows parents to compare schools to those with similar demographics, providing a fairer assessment of performance. Ms. Jha agreed, stating, “Now we have a sense of what proportion of students are making above-average progress and that’s a really great indicator of how is this school actually supporting all its students, or not, to make good progress.”
Addressing Attendance Concerns
Alongside the NAPLAN results,ACARA released attendance data for the first semester of 2025,showing a slight improvement to 88.8%, up from 88.3% in 2024, but still below pre-pandemic levels of 91.4% in 2019. Mr. Gniel stressed the importance of consistent school attendance, stating, “Kids learn when they’re at school and you’ve got to be there to do that.” Ms. Jha identified attendance as a “significant concern” linked to evolving expectations and relationships between parents, students, and schools.
The success stories of schools like Springvale Rise and Chatswood Primary offer a compelling message: targeted instruction, data-driven strategies, and a supportive school habitat can empower students to overcome significant challenges and achieve their full potential.
