NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT FOR
LITERACY AND NUMERACY

BILATERAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND
NEW SOUTH WALES

Purpose

1.	This agreement sets out the role and responsibilities of the State of New South Wales (‘New South Wales) and the Commonwealth of Australia (‘Commonwealth) in relation to the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy (‘the Partnership’), signed on 29 November 2008.

2.	New South Wales remains firmly committed to working with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to achieve the goals expressed in the National Education Agreement, to improve the educational outcomes of our students to ensure the continued prosperity and progress of Australia and to encourage young people to pursue productive, fulfilling lives. 

3.	New South Wales enters this Partnership in the spirit of cooperation and commitment to work towards achieving improvement in high-level outcomes for schooling agreed by the Council of Australian Governments and set out in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians.

4.	This Agreement outlines New South Wales’ financial, monitoring and reporting commitments regarding the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy. 

5.	This Agreement extends to Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership Addendum schools operating on a one year modified program.

KEY REFORM AREAS AND INDICATIVE ACTIONS

6.	Detailed information concerning the key reform areas and associated indicative actions is located in the revised New South Wales Implementation Plan.

7.	The Commonwealth and New South Wales agree the State Implementation Plan to be a ‘living’ document, subject to periodic review as agreed by both Parties.

BUDGET

Facilitation payments

8.	Commonwealth facilitation payments and State co-investments to be made in support of the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership reforms in New South Wales are agreed as follows:

	2008/09
($m)	2009/10
($m)	
Australian Government	19.04	21.76	
State Co-investment	19.04	21.76	
Total Facilitation Budget	38.08	43.52	

9.	An additional $2.3 million was paid to New South Wales by the Commonwealth to support the 23 schools participating in the one-year Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership Addendum program.

Facilitation Payment Milestones

Due date	Milestone	Facilitation Payment	
May 2009	Signing of bilateral agreement and State Implementation Plans. 	$19.04m (100% payment for 2009)	
December 2009	Acceptance of NSW Final Implementation Plan.	$5.44m (25% payment for 2010)	
April 2010	State annual report for 2009.
o	Data Analysis Skills Assessment (DASA) baseline data collection completed by all schools
o	Publication of school plans on school websites
o	Teachers in participating schools have ongoing access to e-learning modules SMART Data Analysis (By December 2009, SMART e-learning will be fully functional).
o	All students in Years 3, 4 and 5 in participating schools complete the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy March 2010 assessment.	$16.32m (75% payment for 2010)	

Reward payments

10.	The following sets out the maximum allocation of reward funding available to New South Wales, subject to the achievement of agreed reward milestones:

	2008/09	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	
	($)	($)	($)	($m)	
Australian Government	0	0	47.6	47.6	
Total Reward Budget	0	0	47.6	47.6	

11.	In order to achieve the objectives of the National Education Agreement and to sustain the significant national reforms under the National Partnerships, states and territories that receive reward funding must use this funding for education purposes and must agree the distribution of reward funding with any non-government sectors that are party to the agreement.

Reward Payment Measures and Targets
12.	The Implementation Plan outlines the measures and targets that must be obtained for the successful achievement of full reward funding for the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership.

NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR PARTICIPATION

13.	In making this Agreement, the Catholic systemic sector was represented by the Catholic Education Commission NSW and independent schools were represented by the Association of Independent Schools NSW. 

14.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of Catholic systemic schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Catholic Education Commission NSW.

15.	The ongoing participation, reporting, monitoring and auditing responsibilities of independent schools in this Partnership will be managed by the Association of Independent Schools NSW.

16.	Commonwealth facilitation funding for New South Wales schools has been received by the NSW Treasury on behalf of the State of New South Wales. Facilitation funds have been disbursed to the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET). NSW DET has distributed agreed funding allocations as follows:
o	To the Catholic Education Commission NSW for distribution to Catholic systemic schools;
o	To the Association of Independent Schools NSW for distribution to independent schools; and
o	To government schools (i.e. from NSW Department of Education and Training’s allocation of total facilitation funding).

17.	A detailed breakdown of New South Wales’ co-investment contribution is provided in the Implementation Plan.

18.	Further detail regarding payment distribution and information regarding non-government sector co-investment is provided in the Implementation Plan 

INDICATIVE ACTIONS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

19.	Detailed information regarding performance indicators and indicative actions can be found in the Implementation Plan 

MONITORING AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

20.	New South Wales will monitor and report on the progress made in this National Partnership as agreed with the Commonwealth and detailed in the Implementation Plan. 

21.	New South Wales agrees to provide reports to the Commonwealth detailing progress against the agreed reform milestones and timelines, as set out in the Implementation Plan. New South Wales acknowledges that summaries of the state reports will be published. 

22.	New South Wales agrees that the Second Annual Report in April 2011 will address the following:

o	Comment on the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy schools’ NAPLAN results
o	Comment on the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy Assessment 
o	Comment on the Data Analysis Skill Assessment (DASA)
o	Comment on literacy and numeracy leadership programs including the Analytical framework for effective leadership and school improvement in literacy and numeracy™
o	Number of teachers implementing whole-school/whole-class reading and numeracy programs
o	Number of students who have individual learning plans in reading or numeracy
o	Number of students who have completed an individual student reading or numeracy intervention program
o	Number of newly appointed teachers participating in a cultural immersion program
o	Case studies from individual schools illustrating a range of scenarios operating within the Partnership.

23.	New South Wales also agrees to share information of best practice arrangements and successful reform interventions with other states and territories through the dissemination of National Partnership annual reports. New South Wales will periodically review the effectiveness of the reforms being undertaken in this Partnership, and will make these results available to states and territories. For more detail on evaluation, refer to the Implementation Plan. 

24.	Monitoring and reporting arrangements will reflect the requirements of Schedule C to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations.

25.	New South Wales notes that where agreed Performance Indicators under the NP agreement contribute to the objectives and outcomes of the National Education Agreement, the COAG Reform Council will assess these performance indicators in the context of its analysis and report on the National Education Agreement and its subsidiary NP agreements.

26.	New South Wales agrees that where individual school data are provided and the NP agreements do not provide for that level of analysis to be published, standard privacy protocols should prevail.

PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

27.	The Commonwealth of Australia and the State of New South Wales will acknowledge the Bilateral Agreement as a joint Commonwealth and State initiative in all publications, promotional and advertising materials, public announcements, activities or any products, processes or inventions developed as a result of the implementation of the Bilateral Agreement.

AUDIT ARRANGEMENTS

28.	During the term of this Agreement, New South Wales will, upon 7 days’ notice from the Commonwealth during normal business hours or as otherwise agreed, permit and provide persons ("Auditors") nominated by New South Wales supervised access to relevant information to verify compliance with the obligations under this Agreement. The Commonwealth is not entitled to use this right of access for purposes that are not related to this Agreement. 

GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

29.	This National Partnership and its associated implementation, reporting, accountability and evaluation requirements will be monitored by a cross-sectoral steering committee which will provide advice to the NSW Minister for Education and Training on issues requiring action.

The Parties have executed this agreement as follows:

Signed for and on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Australia by

……………………………………….
The Hon. Peter Garrett AM MP
Minister for School Education	

Date:

Signed for and on behalf of the
State of New South Wales by

……………………………………………	
The Hon. Verity Firth MP
Minister for Education and Training 

Date: