Data Implementation Manual for Enrolments for the 2008 School Year. National Goals for Schooling in the 21st Century. Collection of Information on Student Background Characteristics. For Use by Schools, School Systems and Testing Agents. Third Edition
Author: Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) (Australia)
Date: 2007-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Enrollment,Student Characteristics,Elementary School Students,Secondary School Students,Parent Background,Educational Attainment,Occupations,Socioeconomic Background,Indigenous Populations,Native Language,Sex,Data Collection,Student Records,Privacy

This manual provides information to assist schools and school systems to collect student background information as required by Education Ministers. The purpose is to enable nationally comparable reporting of students' outcomes against the &quot;National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century.&quot; It involves the collection of information on students': (1) sex; (2) Indigenous status; (3) socioeconomic background; and (4) language background. The manual describes what is involved and what it means in practical terms for schools, school systems and testing agents. In brief, schools and school systems need to collect background information on relevant students using agreed questions through the school enrolment process. The resulting information is stored in the administrative system and then supplied to testing agents so that it can be linked with data gained from students' test results. The process of collecting student background information from parents using nationally agreed definitions of student background characteristics began in 2005. The original edition of this manual, &quot;Data Implementation Manual for Enrolments for the 2005 and 2006 School Years,&quot; was prepared to assist schools and systems in implementing collection of student background data. 2005 was regarded as a transition year with States, Territories and nongovernment schools being able to collect data via student test forms if it was not possible to implement collections from parents. However, Ministers agreed that from 2006 the data items were to be collected from parents. A second edition of the manual was produced for enrolments for the 2007 school year. The 2008 edition of the manual is to be used by schools and school systems when enrolling students for the first time in the 2008 school year or when collecting information, via special data collection forms, on those students who are involved in national testing in 2008. Appended are: (1) Checklist for Existing Users; (2) Implementation Checklist for New Users; (3) Background to the Collection of Data on Student Characteristics Using Nationally Agreed Definitions; (4) Special Data Collection Forms; (5) Glossary; (6) Main Languages Spoken, by State/Territory; (7) Australian Standard Classification of Languages Coding Index; (8) Main Countries of Birth, by State/Territory; and (9) Standard Australian Classification of Countries Coding Index. [For &quot;Data Implementation Manual for Enrolments for the 2007 School Year. National Goals for Schooling. Collection of Information on Student Background Characteristics. For Use by Schools, School Systems and Testing Agents. Second Edition,&quot; see ED534772.]