The School vs State – Within School Analysis (SSWS) report provides school staff with a quick, one page snapshot of the performance of the students sitting HSC courses at their school for specific subjects, in comparison to the performance of students sitting other HSC courses within the school and with the NSW Department of Education (DoE).

On the X-axis, the report compares students within their own school, by subject area.

On the Y-axis, the report compares students to the combined NSW DoE results.

How will this report benefit me?

This report can help support evaluative practice of teaching programs and to review the performance of student cohorts across HSC courses.

School staff can compare how their school and subject area performed compared to the rest of the state. This can provide a reference point by which to identify areas of improvement.

Principals can evaluate the school’s performance between Key Learning Areas (KLA) within the school and consider how each department is performing.

Head teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching programs in comparison with other subject areas. As comparisons are made with the same cohort of students at a school and state level, performance of courses can be analysed with two points of reference.

What does the report provide?

This report presents comparison data.

X-Axis

Within School Comparison

The X axis displays a continuum of achievement levels of student groups for the purpose of comparing one KLA or course with another, within a single school.

Values are grouped as low, moderate or large variances from the average achievement within the school. The underlying number value assigned is not significant. Rather, it is a measure calculated to model the relationship between the average achievement combined subjects in the school and the cohort’s achievement by KLA/course.  Attention should be given to whether the difference from school average achievement is low, moderate or large.

The middle of the axis, with the value 0, represents the average achievement of the school combined with all subjects. Positive values (moving to the right of the graph) show that the cohort for the selected KLA/subject, has performed better than the whole school on average. Negative values (moving towards the left of the graph) show that the cohort has not performed as well as the school average. The greater the number value from 0, the higher the difference from the school average.

Y-Axis

School versus state comparison

The Y-axis displays a continuum of achievement levels of student groups for the purpose of comparing the selected school with the NSW DoE Average (state).

Values are grouped as low, moderate or large variances from the average achievement of the state. The underlying value assigned is not significant, rather, it is a measure calculated by to model the relationship between the average achievement in the state and the school’s average achievement by KLA/course.  Attention should be given to whether the difference from average is low, moderate or large.

The middle of the axis, with the value 0, represents the average achievement of the state combined with all subjects. Positive values (moving to the top of the graph) show that the school, for the selected KLA/subject, has performed better than the state on average. Negative values (moving towards the bottom of the graph) show that the school has not performed as well as the state average. The greater the number from 0, the higher the difference from the school average.

Use the slicers to select a cohort and filter the data for further analysis:

• Cohort Enrolment year - the year the student was in year 12 at your school
• Key Learning Area (KLA)
• Course Name
• School Name
• Gender
• Aboriginal
• EAL/D

How can I use the report to support teaching and learning at my school?

This report allows head teachers and teachers to quickly determine how their students are performing in each course within departments and evaluate the effectiveness of programming for each subject. This information is unique from other reports (that compare with state averages) because the comparison is using the same cohort of students who have completed different subjects.

Principals can assess which subject areas are the highest performing and those who may require further support. This assessment can be compared within the school and outside with the state average.

By looking at changes from year to year, it can be assessed whether changes and refinements made within the school, have had an impact on student performance.

What should I look for?

KLA/Courses whose performance is markedly different from their peers in other KLA/Courses or the state average.

Such differences can help teaching staff identify strengths and areas of need for professional learning. It can also highlight strengths in departments who can share their successful strategies.

Note: groups that contain less than 15 students for that data point are highlighted. Groups with less than 10 students are not to be interpreted as these groups are too small to be statistically reliable.

Where does this data come from?

HSC, Enrolment data

How frequently is data updated?

Annually