Hon Sue Ellery asks the Minister for Education about the monitoring of school attendance targets. The Minister responds that while individual school targets aren't tracked, overall attendance data is monitored and support is provided to schools.

AnsweredQoN 130Legislative Council
Asked
25 February 2016
Portfolio
Education

QuestionView source ↗

SCHOOLS — STUDENT ATTENDANCE
130. Hon SUE ELLERY to the Minister for
Education:
(1) Is the
department monitoring or tracking how many schools have established targets to
improve the proportion of students with more than 90 per cent attendance?
(2) If so, how
many schools have established those targets for 2016?
(3) If the
department is not monitoring or tracking this, how will success be measured?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) In
accordance with the Department of Education's strategic plans and
directions, it is the responsibility of the principal to monitor students'
attendance, set targets and track progress towards targets. The department
employs a range of strategies to improve student attendance, including badged
attendance officers and attendance panels. The department continues to develop
resources to assist schools to improve student attendance.
(3) Schools
analyse local attendance data to determine the success of the strategies they
have implemented to improve attendance and achieve their attendance targets.
Schools can access support and advice through education networks, the regional
education office and Statewide Support Services if they are having difficulty
in meeting their attendance targets. Although the department is not monitoring
or tracking attendance targets at the individual school level, it does monitor
and report on overall student attendance data. The department also analyses
attendance data at the system and regional level to identify changes and
improvements in attendance data trends. Where a significant change in
attendance data is identified, further investigation and/or support may be
provided.

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