Queensland performs well in literacy and numeracy tests

National results show Queensland school students are holding their own in literacy and numeracy standards.

Education and Training Minister Rod Welford said the 2006 Year 3, 5 and 7 test results released by the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs showed young Queenslanders’ literacy and numeracy skills were consistent with the rest of Australia.

“Queensland students generally perform well on the literacy and numeracy tests,” Mr Welford said.

“This latest data shows that up to 90 per cent of students — and in some areas more than 90 per cent of students — achieved the benchmarks.

“The results show that for literacy in 2006 the proportion of Queensland students achieving the national benchmarks was above the Australian result in Year 5 and Year 7 writing with 96 per cent of students achieving the benchmarks in both these year levels.

“For those students who struggle to reach the literacy benchmarks in Year 5, we’re providing targeted intensive literacy support for them in their upper primary years.

“Over four years, we’ve allocated $35.6 million to provide up to 15 hours of intensive tuition for students who need that extra support.”

Mr Welford said that the Queensland results for writing overall were particularly encouraging.

Queensland Year 3 students also performed well in reading and writing with 94.5 per cent and 95.3 per cent of students achieving the respective benchmarks.

“For numeracy in 2006, Queensland equalled the Australian performance in Year 7 with 79.8 per cent of students achieving the benchmark and in Year 3, 88.9 per cent of students achieved the benchmark,” Mr Welford said.

“While many of these results are encouraging, we can do better.

“That’s why we’ve implemented a $1.5 million numeracy program to improve the numeracy skills of all students.”

Media contact: Marnie Stitz on 3237 1000 or 0419 734 985