Dear Kylie

I refer to an entry on the Right to Know website publishing your request to ACARA dated 23 October 2013 for copies of documents previously released under Freedom of Information and noted on ACARA’s Freedom of Information disclosure log. This entry was brought to my attention yesterday. Until then, I was not aware of your request. I have checked with the officer responsible for monitoring the [email address] email box and have been advised that your request cannot be located.

Could I you please re-send your request to both the [email address] email box and myself. My contact details are below my signature line.

In relation to the historic list of schools, ACARA has previously provided this list via a CD-ROM due to the size of the file. Please advise a street address for delivery.

Kind regards

Peter Matheson
Board Secretary, Office of the CEO

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
Level 10 | 255 Pitt Street | SYDNEY | NSW | 2000

Phone: +612 8098 3116
[mobile number]
Email: [email address]

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Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping

Dear Kylie

I refer to your original FOI disclosure log request on the Right to Know
website dated 23 October 2013 to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Reporting Authority (ACARA), which came to my attention on 6 November
2013, and our subsequent correspondence.

Having looked at your recent comments on the Right to Know website about
this matter, I note that there is no formal requirement under the Freedom
of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to provide an FOI acknowledgment
letter in response to an FOI disclosure log request. An FOI disclosure log
request is not an FOI request.

I confirm that the documents you are requesting were previously released
under the FOI Act. These documents comprise:

1.         the following NAPLAN documents:

a.         the formula for computing NAPLAN reliability; and

b.         the reliability co-efficients for each of the NAPLAN years
2008-2012; and

2.         a historic, electronic list of all schools published on the My
School website for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

I provide the NAPLAN documents at Attachment A and my comments regarding
the historic list of schools at Attachment B. I have uploaded the schools
list to the Right to Know website.

Kind regards

Peter

Peter Matheson

Board Secretary, Office of the CEO

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
Level 10 | 255 Pitt Street | SYDNEY | NSW | 2000
Phone: +612 8098 3116

[mobile number]
Email: [4][email address]

Please consider the environment before printing this email

Attachment A

Cronbach alpha formula and reliabilities – NAPLAN 2008 – 2012

Date: 28 June 2013

Formula

The formula for computing the NAPLAN reliability is the Cronbach’s
Coefficient Alpha.

Cronbach alpha reliabilities – NAPLAN 2008 – 2012

In relation to NAPLAN 2008 - 2012, the table below provides the Cronbach
alpha reliabilities of each test. Note that the alpha coefficient for
Writing is computed using pooled data from all grades.

Calendar Year Year Reading Writing Spelling Grammar and Numeracy
Level Punctuation
3 0.89 0.92 0.78 0.87
2008 5 0.89 0.94 0.91 0.80 0.88
7 0.88 0.90 0.77 0.93
9 0.88 0.91 0.78 0.92
3 0.88 0.92 0.87 0.84
2009 5 0.87 0.93 0.92 0.84 0.87
7 0.89 0.91 0.83 0.93
9 0.88 0.90 0.79 0.92
3 0.86 0.93 0.83 0.86
2010 5 0.85 0.94 0.92 0.75 0.87
7 0.90 0.93 0.71 0.93
9 0.89 0.90 0.79 0.91
3 0.87 0.93 0.82 0.87
2011 5 0.87 0.96 0.92 0.82 0.87
7 0.91 0.93 0.82 0.93
9 0.90 0.92 0.82 0.94
3 0.89 0.91 0.82 0.86
2012 5 0.85 0.96 0.91 0.79 0.88
7 0.88 0.93 0.82 0.92
9 0.88 0.91 0.83 0.94

Attachment B

I provide the following comments regarding the historic list of schools:

·                The list of schools comprises the following fields:

ü   School name;

ü   Suburb;

ü   Postcode;

ü   State/Territory; and

ü   School type.

·                The list of schools contains more information than is
required to be provided under the terms of the decision by the Freedom of
Information Commissioner, Dr James Popple in Diamond and Australian
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [2013] AICmr 57 22 May 2013
(Decision). The Decision only requires school names. The additional
information is provided in order to avoid confusion, as there are
instances where a number of schools have the same name, in different
locations.

·                The list of schools is a historic record of the list of
schools for which results were reported on My School in each of 2008, 2009
and 2010. This complies with para 60 of the Decision.

·                Each year the list of schools for which results are
reported on My School changes. These changes can arise for any number of
reasons, including but not limited to:

ü   Existing schools closing;

ü   New schools opening;

ü   Schools not funded by government requesting their inclusion on the
website; and

ü   Schools merging and changing names.

·                My School displays only the current list of schools (list
of schools provided by jurisdictional education authorities for the 2012
NAPLAN results). This list of schools then drives all the other data on My
School, including under each of the tabs 2008 – 2012.

·                This means that the list of schools uploaded on the Right
to Know website will not match the list of schools currently reported on
My School.

·                The Decision was made on 22 May 2013. Subsequent to the
Decision, ACARA published a current list of schools on its public website
([5]http://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/acara_...) (Published
List). The Published List is current as at 25 June 2013. At the time of
publication, the Published List matched the list of schools reported on My
School, as My School is updated when ACARA is advised of changes to the
list of schools. However, if there have been changes to the list of
schools since this date, then the Published List will not match the list
of schools reported on My School.

·                The list of schools can be sorted by year (2008 – 2010)
by checking the relevant box. If all boxes are checked, that is, if you
want to display all years 2008-2010, the list will appear sequentially by
year.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01CEE6A9.80B26700
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/acara_...

Dear Kylie

Noting that the table in my previous response showing Cronbach alpha reliabilities has lost formatting (and become unreadable) I have also uploaded a MS Word document.

Kind regards
Peter