People need literacy and numeracy skills to participate in the community, thrive in the workplace and learn throughout their lives. Some Victorian students begin school with fewer foundational skills and resources than their peers. It is important that schools ensure these students reach expected literacy and numeracy levels over the course of their education journeys.

This audit examined whether the Department of Education is improving literacy and numeracy achievement outcomes for all Victorian government school students.

Key findings:

• Since 2012, literacy and numeracy outcomes for Victorian government school students overall are stable.
• The Department is not improving outcomes for Aboriginal students and students experiencing disadvantage. Since 2012, the proportion of these students below the expected level has been stable or increased.
• The Department's budget performance measures of student outcomes are not a fair or transparent presentation of students' skills.

Key recommendations:

• The Department should widen its literacy reporting to include writing as well as reading.
• The Department should improve the way it reports student outcomes in its performance measures.
• The Department should make government school literacy and numeracy results more accessible to the public.