In 2020, the NSW Department of Education established the Rural Access Gap Direct Intervention Program to address the growing education gap between rural and metropolitan students.
Rural Access Gap (RAG) was delivered in June 2024.
The Expert Review stated:
“The Rural Access Gap (RAG) program delivered on its intent to digitally uplift rural and remote schools and address the growing divide between metropolitan and rural and remote schools in NSW. The program has been well managed, has delivered outcomes and benefits in excess of expectations, and has now successfully transitioned to BAU [business-as-usual].
“The key aim of the program has been to improve student outcomes, supported by freeing up teacher time from administrative tasks.
“The program has established a student uplift model that links rural digitisation, teacher enablement, student enablement and improved student performance.
“While student-related benefits usually take longer before they are directly observable, analysis on NAPLAN data undertaken as part of the benefits review show measurable improvements already:
- “The percentage of First Nations students (as a portion of all students) participating in reading and numeracy for NAPLAN years 3, 5, 7 and 9 since before RAG implementation (2019) vs post RAG implementation (2021-2022) shows a year-on-year increase for all four NAPLAN years.
- “The gap in average NAPLAN scores of First Nations students vs that of other students has reduced by an average of 1% point for NAPLAN years 5, 7 and 9 since before RAG implementation (2019) vs post RAG implementation (2021-2022).”
Demonstrating a strong benefits analysis
In FY2024, Digital NSW commissioned the Nous Group (Nous) to conduct an evaluation of the Digital Restart Fund (DRF) component on DAF projects.
Nous noted that the assurance of the project “appropriately reflected its structure, using gateway reviews to mirror and inform the tranched funding approach”. Nous highlighted that the Gate 2 Review identified that the main area of improvement related to benefits mapping and analysis.
By Gate 6, the expert reviewer noted a particular strength of the Rural Access Gap was its “detailed benefits analysis”, reflecting the benefit of these Gate 2 recommendations and the assurance process.
Key program details
Delivery agency: Department of Education
DAF assurance tier: 2
Estimated cost at completion: $307 million
Project start date: 1 July 2020
Project end date: 28 June 2024
For more information, visit Digital Assurance or contact the team at: ICTAssurance@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.