The ATAR disappointment—exactly how it happens

ATAR disappointment and school reports are actually part of the same process—a process which is poorly understood, producing in the end for many students disappointing outcomes. Imagine a boy or girl, working hard in Years 11 and 12, getting good marks in their school assessments. Now imagine the shock and horror of logging onto the University Admissions Centre website, usually in the middle of December, and reading that their ATAR is 49.9. Of course this is a mistake so the student logs out, and then logs in again—still 49.9. Even after a third try the score remains unchanged. So the student then concludes that there is a mistake in the computer system, and the true score will arrive in the mail one or two days later. Unbelievably another mistake has been made, the same mistake actually, giving an ATAR of 49.9. You know where this is going—no mistake has been made.

For too many students this scenario happens. For the majority of students their ATAR will be lower than they expected. Families—especially mothers—may also be shocked and disappointed. Often it is quite some days before the family can get themselves organised for some type of action plan. But they’re really not sure what to do.

The ATAR explained

But before I explore all this we have to better understand what an ATAR actually is. Well according to the Universities Admissions Centre student guide the ATAR is actually a selection rank, not a mark. It indicates a student’s position in relation to their Year 7 cohort, including students who did not complete Year 12. So, an ATAR, really a percentile, of say 90 indicates that the student has performed better than 90 per cent of everyone, including students who did not complete Year 12. It also includes students who did the HSC but were not eligible for an ATAR because their study program did not satisfy the requirements for an ATAR. There are a number of reasons for this but often these students studied two or more subjects which were less academically demanding, termed Category B subjects. These are subjects such as Financial Services, Metal and Engineering, Tourism and Events. There are also subjects called ‘Board endorsed’, and these also do not lead to an ATAR.

Let’s consider an actual example. In NSW approximately 55,000 students do the HSC and receive an ATAR. Additionally about 10,000 students are awarded the HSC but are not eligible for an ATAR because of the subjects they chose to study. Another 10,000 attempt part or all of the HSC but are not awarded an HSC at all. On top of all this there are about 25,000 young people who were in school during Year 7 but who left school—or during Years 8, 9 and especially Year 10—and so did not progress to Year 12. This makes a grand total of 90,000. So an ATAR of 90 means that the student is in the top 10 per cent of 90,000, not the top 10 per cent of 55,000. Following the idea through you can see that the lowest possible ATAR awarded would be in the high 30s.

In January 1997, Mt Druitt High School, as it was then known, was the subject of an article published in the Daily Telegraph. The article was headed, “Class we failed”. It explained that all Year 12 students at that school failed to receive an ATAR, or a Tertiary Education Rank as it was then known, of over 50. Using the figures above the Mt Druitt students were in the bottom half of 90,000 students, although the method of calculating the ATAR then was slightly different. Some of the students would not have been eligible for a TER but this evades the point. The point is that these students and their parents and would have been quite disappointed.

These days an ATAR of 50 prohibits entry into most universities, and less than 50 means that preparatory or foundation programs may have to be done to gain university entry. Usually a fair amount of time is necessary and often money as well. Alternatively other pathways such as through TAFE would need to be sought, and this also means loss of time and the expenditure of resources.

The deceptive school reporting process

This quite negative outcome, and many other schools would be in the same position, is an outcome produced step by step, beginning with school reports in primary school and then into high school. In my life I have read hundreds of school reports, and there are two generalisations that can be made. First, reports make few negative comments about students. There’s no need when positive comments are easier to write and almost inexhaustible. Just by ticking boxes teachers can cause nearly every student to ‘often’ or ‘usually’, cooperate with classmates, listen attentively, use time well to complete tasks, and work independently. Teachers must certainly have angels for students.

The very few negative comments are along the lines of “Mary would benefit from attention to the question when writing essays” or “Mary did not complete her project on the life cycle of the New Zealand non-flowering hibernating hibiscus.” There is nothing like, “Mary is a lazy, stupid and ungrateful twerp. If earth is ever invaded by human eating aliens, Mary should be placed at the front.”

Second, the vast majority of children are average or above average, a mathematical impossibility. Schools explain this by saying that children at the school are performing at a high standard and therefore nearly all students can be rated as for example, competent, high or outstanding. Very few students would need to be described as experiencing difficulties or just progressing. Could this be true? Well in selective high schools it would be true, and report gradings would be accurate. In James Ruse Agricultural High School, the NSW school achieving the best academic results, year after year, the top half of students receive an ATAR of 99 or better. But selective schools comprise only about four per cent of all high schools.

Even in James Ruse though many students would be taking school assignment marks of 12 or 13 or 14 out of 20. And here’s the point, students at Mt Druitt would also have been taking home marks similar marks. Indeed the mark ranges, and school report ratings, are similar in all schools.

You see parents, and indeed children, do not like to receive bad news. No parent enjoys negative feedback about their children, particularly if they are paying thousands of dollars in private school fees. They want to hear positive things such as the child is progressing as well, not that he or she is doing as well as possible considering he or she has the intelligence of a

wombat. Bad news also implies that the school should or has to do something about it.

Of course mothers do understand that their son or daughter may a little behind, but very much their understanding is that their child is on track to be successful. I find that a nearly all parents explain any type of bad performance with the idea that their little monsters are quite bright, certainly capable of top performance, but are underperforming because they are lazy. Nobody says that little Johnny’s talents lie in non-academic areas though of course there is nothing wrong with that. Indeed little Johnny may well in later life become far more economically productive than his more educationally successful peers.

In my experience most students do work hard for the HSC, actually for the whole of Year 12. Then suddenly comes an ATAR result which is simply devastating, catching students and parents completely off guard. At present schools are now part of the NAPLAN program, and here at last parents can receive some type of accurate feedback before the HSC. This allows educational planning and greatly widens the choices.