NAPLAN

Week 3 and 4 of this term will see our Year 3 and 5 students sit NAPLAN testing. 

 NAPLAN is a nationwide measure through which parents, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments and the broader community can determine how well young Australians are developing their literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning.

• NAPLAN questions are directly linked to the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics. As such, the best preparation students can do for NAPLAN is to learn what they do in the classroom every day. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for, and students are not expected to do so. 
• NAPLAN results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress. 
• NAPLAN can support school improvement by enabling teachers to monitor their students’ progress over time against the national measure, to identify strengths and areas to improve in teaching programs, and to set goals in literacy and numeracy. 
• Students and parents wishing to familiarise themselves with NAPLAN online can visit the public demonstration site on the NAP website. Some past NAPLAN papers are also available.

NAPLAN online 

One of the main benefits of NAPLAN online is that it uses tailored (or adaptive) testing. This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do. 

Online testing also allows us to provide a wide range of accessibility options to support students with disability to access NAPLAN. Feedback from students is that they find the online test more engaging. 

Tailored tests provide more precise results and trials of the tailored test design show students are more engaged with tests that adapt to their test performance.

This video explains how tailored testing works

https://nap.edu.au/online-assessment/research-and-development/tailored-tests

Scheduling 

This year, between 10 and 20 May, our school will be doing NAPLAN online. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are already learning at school. On its own, NAPLAN is not a test that can be studied for and students are not expected to do so.

 NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance; however, students and parents may use individual results to discuss progress with teachers. 

A child’s teacher will have the best insight into the child’s educational progress. NAPLAN results do not measure overall school quality. 

Further information can be obtained from the attachment below: