NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students sit assessments in writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. 

The NAPLAN test window is 9 days. This is to accommodate schools that may not have the capacity to complete the tests in a shorter time frame. The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 13 March and finishes on Monday 25 March 2024. Schools will schedule the tests as soon as possible within the testing window, prioritising the first week. Our schedule will be as follows:

Our Grade 5 students use laptops for all of their assessments while our Grade 3 students use iPads for the Reading, Numeracy and Conventions of Language (Spelling and Grammar). The only assessment that is completed in a hard copy booklet is the Grade 3 Writing. Some of the online assessments have audio enabled questions so the students use headphones to have questions or prompts read to them. They can replay a question if they need to hear it for a second time. Question types include multiple choice, ordering, click and drag, select more than one and type an answer. There is a public demonstration site that shows the types of questions within the Naplan Assessments.

https://nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

NAPLAN Online Reading, Numeracy and Conventions of Language use a tailored test design. The tests automatically adapt to a student’s test performance and asks questions that match the student’s achievement level. Tailored testing allows all students to demonstrate their knowledge and encourages students to stay engaged with the test. 

Reading and Numeracy test design

Students at each year level start with the same set of questions (testlet A). Each student’s answers in testlet A will determine the questions they see in the second testlet. These may be less complex (B) or more complex (D).

The student’s answers in the second testlet will determine the difficulty of questions in the final testlet: highest complexity (F), average complexity (E), lowest complexity (C). Students who receive a low score for testlet A move directly to testlet C and then complete testlet B.

NAPLAN results for each student are based on both the number and difficulty of the questions the student answered correctly. A student who completes a more complex set of questions is more likely to achieve a higher score (and a higher band placement), while a student who answers the same number of questions correctly, but follows a less complex pathway, will achieve a lower score.

Conventions of language test design

The conventions of language test includes a grammar and punctuation (G&P) section and a spelling section, each with two branching points. A message will inform students that they cannot return to the G&P section once they move to spelling.

Please find more information in the NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers