Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority

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ACARA Data Access Application Process

Background 

ACARA's Charter includes the following work priority:

In accordance with the Principles and protocols for reporting on schooling in Australia (June 2009), collect, manage, analyse, evaluate and report statistical and related information about schools and the outcomes of schooling, as required by the Council of Australian Governments and under the National Education Agreement for performance monitoring. (ACARA Charter, July 2010, Section 7).
 
Within its role of collecting, analysing and reporting data, ACARA systematically applies the Principles and protocols for reporting on schooling in Australia, 2009. These principles and protocols are intended to guide and inform the use and publication of data generated in the process of measuring the performance of schooling in Australia.
 
Through the Principles and protocols for reporting on schooling in Australia, Ministers have agreed to ACARA implementing: 

  • Access rights to third-party requests for data arising from the National Assessment Program, or other national assessments agreed by Ministers, that have not been released in the public domain; and 
  • Policies and procedures that will specify the conditions under which the full data sets on school performance will be accessible to third parties. 

ACARA has developed draft data access protocols which are currently in a process of review and consultation prior to being submitted to the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) for endorsement. 


Data Requests for Research

ACARA manages national school data on behalf of all Australian schools, and must balance considerations of the potential for research to drive school improvement and enhance school performance and equity outcomes versus the need to protect the integrity of schools and groups of students and teachers, and to ensure that school performance data is presented in an appropriate and contextualised manner. 

While the data access protocols are under review, ACARA will not consider any applications with a purpose that reflects a commercial intent and will only release data in limited circumstance. 

The Application Form for individuals and organisations can be downloaded via the link below. For any queries regarding the application process please email ACARA at info@acara.edu.au. 

ICON - PDF  Data Access Application Form