Study indicates fall in Australian students' literacy and numeracy levels
A recent paper by researchers at the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences looks at some of the social changes that have occurred in schools since the 1960s to investigate changes in Australian students' literacy and numeracy levels over time.
The 47-page report How has school productivity changed in Australia? shows that the literacy and numeracy skills of Australian teenagers (aged 13-14 years) have declined in comparison with those of their peers in the 1960s and 1970s. This decline has occurred despite improvements in technology, class sizes, funding, and developments in educational theory, literacy and numeracy over the same period.
Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, the researchers found 'a small but statistically significant fall in numeracy over the period 1964-2003, and in both literacy and numeracy over the period 1975-1998. The decline is in the order of one-tenth to one-fifth of a standard deviation. Adjusting this decline for changes in student demographics does not affect this conclusion; if anything, the decline appears to be more acute.'
Measuring school productivity in terms of literacy and numeracy points per dollar, their research implies that school productivity 'may have fallen over the past 3-4 decades'. Although the authors say that they 'cannot account for all the phenomena that might have affected test score results', the report identifies 'a number of plausible factors that might have led to a drop in school productivity'.
Source:
Leigh, A. and Ryan, C. 2007, How has school productivity changed in Australia?, Economics Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, viewed 8 July 2008, http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/pdf/SchoolProductivity.pdf
The Age, 11 February 2008, p.3.
Herald Sun, 11 February 2008, p.10.