Reporting

ACARA is responsible for collecting, managing, analysing, evaluating and reporting statistical and related information about educational outcomes.

This includes the development of national key performance measures (KPMs) for reporting the performance of Australian schooling. ACARA developed and education ministers approved the Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia 2020 (PDF 1.3 MB), which lists and defines these measures for national reporting from the 2020 reporting year. The 2020 edition of the measurement framework is the first to address the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration.

See also Measurement Framework for Schooling in Australia.

ACARA publishes the annual National Report on Schooling in Australia on behalf of Australian education ministers, meeting as the Education Council.



National reports on schooling in Australia

The National Report on Schooling in Australia 2019 is the eleventh report on progress towards the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. 

The report specifically addresses education ministers’ Commitment to Action in the eight interrelated areas identified in the Melbourne Declaration by summarising national initiatives and achievements in these areas. It also reports on the nationally agreed key performance measures for student participation, achievement and attainment, and provides statistics on school and staff numbers, student enrolments and school funding.

National Report on Schooling data portal

The National Report on Schooling in Australia data portal, which replaced the additional statistics compendium of earlier years, has been updated with the most recent data available. The data portal provides readers with interactive access to a wide range of data on schooling in Australia, including general statistics on enrolments and funding, and data on the agreed KPMs. In most cases, the portal allows readers to view and download data at the national level, but also by state and territory, by school sector, by calendar year and by other breakdowns such as gender and Indigenous status.

The National Report on Schooling in Australia from 2009 are also published on the ACARA website. Access previous reports (1989–2008) here.

My School

ACARA is also responsible for collecting data from schools for the purpose of accountability and reporting, research and analysis, and resource allocation. Since 2010, information on individual schools has been published on the My School website.

The site provides parents and the community with information about school communities and school finances as well as information on performance in the National Assessment Program – literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN). My School contains quality data that allow for comparison of results between schools with students from similar socio-educational backgrounds, using the index of community socio-educational advantage (ICSEA) developed by ACARA. 

To read more about My School, visit the 'My School' page of the ACARA website as well as My School website itself.



NAPLAN and NAP sample assessment national reports

ACARA publishes the national reports for the National Assessment Program – literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) and for the National Assessment Program sample assessments. These reports and information on them are available on ACARA’s National Assessment Program (NAP) website.

Australian Schools List (ASL)

Each year, ACARA publishes updated information on all registered schools currently operating in Australia on the Australian Schools List website. 

National data collections standards

To report student outcomes data, nationally comparable student background data are needed. As agreed by education ministers, ACARA has developed the Data Standards Manual: Student Background Characteristics to provide information to assist schools and school systems to collect consistent student background information from parents.



Student attendance data

ACARA also publishes the National Standards for Student Attendance Data Reporting. All jurisdictions and sectors have agreed to provide nationally comparable student attendance data that comply with these standards.