Letter to the Editor: Smith Family earns HD

The solution to improving Australia's literacy and numeracy skills and Year 12 completion rates, particularly among disadvantaged students, (“Spend money on education or build more jails”, April 29) lies less in deeper pockets and more in directing funds to programs that deliver results.

Recently we’ve seen a range of reports – from the Australian Early Development Census, Grattan Institute and now the Australian Education Union – highlighting the large gap between the educational achievements of students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

This week The Smith Family also released a report – on the strong results being achieved by highly disadvantaged students on its core Learning for Life program. Despite their severe disadvantage, seven out of 10 students on the program are completing Year 12. Over the last four years, the program has supported 6,500 young Australians to complete Year 12.

Australia has a long history of funding educational programs for disadvantaged students, but there’s been insufficient attention to assessing whether they improve student outcomes.

Published in the Sydney Morning Herald 30 April 2016