The secret sauce powering the schools punching above their weight in NAPLAN
About two thirds of Springvale Rise students made above average progress in reading, writing and numeracy between years 3 and 5. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
In short:
From today, parents can check the latest NAPLAN scores for 10,000 schools across the country on the MySchool website.
Student results have been concerning in the last three years, with national figures showing one in three are not meeting expectations in reading and writing.
However, many schools are bucking that trend and outperforming expectations with a focus on explicit teaching styles.
Springvale Rise Primary School in south-east Melbourne is low on privilege but high on achievement.
As NAPLAN results for schools are released today, it is being hailed a "school making a difference" by the administrators of the annual test, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
"[We have] a really culturally diverse community. A lot of our families are of a refugee-type background. Many have come from Burma, from Myanmar," principal Debbie Cottier said.
"Their journeys are wide and varied. A lot of the parents haven't had much education themselves."
Ninety-three per cent of students come from non-English-speaking backgrounds and 78 per cent are in the bottom quartiles for socio-economic advantage.
Ninety-three per cent of students from Springvale Rise come from non-English speaking backgrounds. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
Springvale Rise is one of about 50 schools in each state ACARA has identified as "making a difference" for above-average scores compared to students with similar demographics.
Roughly two thirds of Springvale Rise students made above-average progress in reading, writing and numeracy between years 3 and 5.
Ms Cottier said the school's focus on explicit teaching, use of data to spot knowledge gaps and a focus on building a great culture were the keys to its success.
Explicit teaching combines old school teacher-led instruction with the latest science on how kids brains work to avoid mental overload.
Lessons are broken into small chunks with the teacher modelling the learning and aiming to leave students with a clear understanding of what's required.
It contrasts with other learning styles like inquiry or student-centred learning which aims to give children more autonomy in the classroom.
A growing body of evidence suggests explicit instruction works for the largest number of learners though it has fierce critics, especially in academia who deride it as "drill and kill".
"We are so proud. The joy that you see from our families when they hear about the successes that we're making is really inspiring,"Ms Cottier said.
Debbie Cottier is proud of her students at Springvale Rise. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
That pride is written on the face of 11-year-old Dilawar, who dreams of becoming a lawyer.
"The school is an amazing place for me to be, and I feel very safe and happy at school," Dilawar said.
"My favourite subject at school is writing because it helps me build up my vocabulary."
His year 5 classmate Jessica prefers maths but also loves the school and hopes to become a student leader next year.
"Something I like about our school is that there are many different cultures," Jessica said.
"Everyone has a say, and they all get a voice. If I disagree with someone, I share my opinion."
'Incredibly rewarding'
About 900 kilometres away on Sydney's affluent north shore, Chatswood Primary is another school being celebrated for punching above its weight.
There are both striking similarities and drastic differences — 93 per cent of students are also from non-English backgrounds, but most have much higher levels of socio-educational advantage.
Ninety-three per cent of Chatswood Public's students also come from non-English speaking backgrounds. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
The common thread is systematic, consistent explicit teaching and the use of data to spot and reverse gaps in knowledge before kids fall behind.
More than 60 per cent made above-average progress in literacy and numeracy between years 3 and 5 compared to students with similar levels of socio-educational advantage.
"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," principal Cameron Jones said.
"Research shows if we can narrow the gap of achievement in year 3, that makes a huge difference to what students can achieve in year 12."
Deputy principal Rani Holstein said the school had been working for five years to ensure consistent explicit teaching practices across all classrooms.
"Having success criteria that makes it very clear what the students need to do so there's no guesswork in the learning, it's very clear to them what the lesson is about, why they're doing it," she said.
Chatswood Public has rolled explicit teaching practices out across all classrooms. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Education analyst and former teacher Trisha Jha from the Centre for Independent Studies said the teaching approach was evidence-based and backed by science.
"It would be difficult to point out an example of a school that has had a quick and a sustained improvement in its student results without using explicit instruction,"Ms Jha said.
Ms Jha said explicit instruction could turn around Australia's overall NAPLAN results, after figures released in July again showed one in three students were not meeting "challenging but reasonable" expectations for literacy and numeracy.
Trisha Jha says more schools adopting an explicit teaching approach could turn around student scores. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
Student progress data and advice for parents
Changes to the NAPLAN test in 2023 mean this latest data allows parents to see how their children have performed across year levels for the first time in several years.
"It's great to have the student progress data back," ACARA CEO Stephen Gniel said.
"It means that we can look at schools in terms of the growth, the ways in which those families and schools have worked with those children over a two-year period."
ACARA publishes the MySchool website, where today's data drop can be found.
MySchool allows parents to track results against "similar schools", which ACARA says is a fairer means of comparisons.
Mr Gniel said ranking and comparing schools on raw scores alone, as some media outlets did, was "misleading" and "crude".
He said that did not take into account parental advantage, which had been increasingly shown to be crucial in a child's success.
"Our teachers and principals deserve better than us just ranking them in terms of one data point. Those people are in there every day working with those students,"Mr Gniel said.
Ms Jha agreed student progress over time and comparing to similar schools were fairer metrics for gauging performance.
"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," she said.
Attendance data still not bouncing back
ACARA has also released attendance data for the first semester of 2025 across all schools, showing an improvement from 2024.
Attendance was 88.8 per cent this year, up from 88.3 per cent in 2024, but still well below the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 91.4 per cent.
"Kids learn when they're at school and you've got to be there to do that," Mr Gniel said.
"We're really encouraged by that direction, but … we want to see higher attendance rates."
Stephen Gniel says ACARA is "really encouraged" by an increase in attendance rates. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Ms Jha said attendance was a "significant concern" that could undermine other efforts to improve school systems.
"There is something going on in terms of … the expectations of parents, the relationship between parents and kids and the school," she said.
"That's making that attendance issue a really hard nut to crack."