NAPLAN
The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy
The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual nation-wide assessment that has been present in schools since 2008 and is sat by students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in the second week of May.
NAPLAN is comprised of four tests in the domains of reading, writing, language conventions - i.e. spelling, grammar and punctuation - and numeracy. Examples of the tests for grade 3 can be found below, sourced from the NAPLAN website. Further examples and other year level examples can be found on the NAPLAN website, www.nap.edu.au.
The skills tested are stated as “essential for every child to progress through school and life” and provide critical foundation for their learning and their “productive and rewarding participation in the community” (NAPLAN, 2014). |
NAPLAN was developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) as a way of retrieving data and information to improve schooling and state and national levels (ACARA 2015). A short video, produced by ACARA, explaining the value of the NAPLAN testing in more detail can be found to the right.
|
|
Today NAPLAN is the primary indicator of school performance (EXFIN 2014). In the Australian media, there has been controversy and varying opinions as to how important NAPLAN testing is, and the ways in which it is being used.
In an article published in The Australian in May 2013, Christopher Bantick - a Melbourne writer and senior literature teacher - describes the “corruption” of schools by NAPLAN and the “reward funding” given by the Labor Party. This article can be found below. Jennifer Buckingham (2014) however, disagrees with the statements, and offered her own point of view in an article published in The Drum on March 17, 2014 - linked below.
|
Channel Ten news has also reported on the usefulness and affect of NAPLAN testing. The video above was filmed in 2011, when the NAPLAN writing test was changed from a narrative to a persuasive writing style.
|
|
Joanne O’Mara (2014), a senior lecturer in language and literacy at Deakin University, discusses the ways in which NAPLAN testing is changing the educational landscape and the ways in which the website MySchool has affected NAPLAN testing in her piece published in Practically Primary, linked to the left.
|
I personally believe that NAPLAN is an effective way of collecting data to help the school community - students, parents, teachers, school officials and government - identify areas of strength and weakness, as well as to improve their practice and planning. With that said, I think the inclusion of the NAPLAN results on the MySchool website has turned what should be used as a sounding board for improvement into a place of comparison and competition, negatively effecting the ways in which our school work.
|
A reference list for this page can be found below:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2015, NAPLAN Infographic, Available at: <http://www.nap.edu.au/verve/_resources/Acara_NAPLAN_Infographic(V4-2).pdf>, accessed 14 March 2015
Bantick, C 2013, NAPLAN tests are part of a big delusion, The Australian, May 11
Buckingham, J 2014, The myth of NAPLAN stress, The Drum, March 17
EXFIN 2014, Choosing and Australian school, Available at: <http://www.exfin.com/education-selecting-school>, accessed 14 March 2015
National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy 2014, Available at: <http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html>, accessed 14 March 2015
O’Mara, J 2014, An emergency response to literacy: NAPLAN on MySchool, Practically Primary, Vol 19 Issue 2, p18-22
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2015, NAPLAN Infographic, Available at: <http://www.nap.edu.au/verve/_resources/Acara_NAPLAN_Infographic(V4-2).pdf>, accessed 14 March 2015
Bantick, C 2013, NAPLAN tests are part of a big delusion, The Australian, May 11
Buckingham, J 2014, The myth of NAPLAN stress, The Drum, March 17
EXFIN 2014, Choosing and Australian school, Available at: <http://www.exfin.com/education-selecting-school>, accessed 14 March 2015
National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy 2014, Available at: <http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html>, accessed 14 March 2015
O’Mara, J 2014, An emergency response to literacy: NAPLAN on MySchool, Practically Primary, Vol 19 Issue 2, p18-22