ABOUT WALNA
  Welcome to WALNA
   Goal
   History
  Who does WALNA
  Timelines

THE TESTS
   The Standards
   Test Development
   Test Content
   Marking
   Marking Guides
   Data Analysis

THE RESULTS
   General
   Individual
   Class
   School
   Digital Version

KEY FINDINGS
   Reports
   District Results
   Public Schools Results
   All Schools Results

INFORMATION
   Parent Choice
   Reporting
   Info. Brochures
   Administration
   Home Schooling

DATA CLUB
   Data Club
   

The WAMSE Scales

WAMSE (Western Australian Monitoring Standards in Education) refers to the scale of measurement chosen as a basis for describing achievement in the different learning areas. In much the same way as distances can be measured in centimetres or inches and temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, level of achievement may be represented with the use of different scales.

The important thing is that the value representing level of achievement is really a measurement. This outcome is ensured through an iterative process of test development, analysis of student data, refinement of tests, and further analysis. The result is that the WAMSE can be interpreted simply as a measurement of achievement.

For the Western Australian Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (WALNA) program, there are WAMSE scales for reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. A WAMSE score in one area is not directly comparable with a WAMSE score in another area. For example, it is not possible to directly compare a score in reading with a score in writing. The reading, writing, spelling and numeracy scales must be treated as separate.

The element in common to all WAMSE scales is that the typical range of achievement varies between about 0 and 800. An important characteristic of the WAMSE scales is that they permit comparisons over time within a given learning area. A year 3 reading score on the scale is comparable with a year 5 or 7 score, even though the students attempted different questions on their respective tests. Furthermore, a reading score on the WAMSE scale in one calendar year is comparable with a reading score in a different year. A WAMSE is therefore a measurement of achievement within a particular learning area that does not depend upon year group or year of testing.

The following conversion tables allow the user to convert raw test scores to WAMSE scores so that appropriate comparisons can be made.

WALNA 2003 to 2007 WAMSE Conversion Tables

WAMSE scale on Individual Student and School Reports

The WAMSE scale is used to plot student and state performance and level boundaries and benchmark standards on individual student and school reports.

Individual Student Reports

The following are sample reports from WALNA 2005.

School Reports

The following are sample reports from 2006.