What is NAPLAN & Why Is It Important?
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Today I will be going through the ins and outs of NAPLAN as a whole which is the nationwide exam for students here in Australia. Let’s get into it.
As my team and I only do one on one classes, we help students with their unique educational goals and oftentimes NAPLAN is a primary focus. But what is it in the first place? It stands for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and is completed by Australian students in years 3,5,7 and 9. The NAPLAN exam has been here for over 10 years, starting in 2008 however with various changes occurring, parents often still inquire about the exam, its purpose as well as how significant it is in this day and age. That is why I will be going through the background of these exams, development, analysis and my personal evaluation of the exams as a whole.
Background
In terms of the origins of this exam, began following a meeting from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). They recognised that tests needed to be used to see if students were performing either below or above the National Minimum Standard in the areas of reading, language conventions, writing and numeracy skills for their school year. This is why there are different bands/levels because you can’t compare a student in year 3 with a student in year 5 as they will have to complete tests of differing difficulty. On that same note, you cannot compare a student in the same year with a numeracy score with another student writing score, they need to be on the same level in order to be compared objectively. Therefore, for each grade level whether you are in year 3,5,7,9, there are a different number of bands to test the student’s performance with this NAPLAN exam. It also aligns with a national schooling system in Australia which became a focal policy point as Australia as a nation recognised that our local education was critical in success compared to other countries.
This note is also supported by ACARA who created the NAPLAN exam who said the purpose of the exams was to measure whether literacy and numeracy skills that are tested in the exam help determine whether students are prepared for life beyond primary and high school. The information that is gathered is vital from a school and education perspective because they are only to see that what they teach in the curriculum is actually translating into better marks in the NAPLAN exams. Alternatively, for students and parents, they are able to glean whether their child is performing better than the national average. This is especially important because one of the biggest limiting factors of a school report is that it is only evaluating you with students in your school & does not give you much of a point of comparison, unlike the NAPLAN exam where everyone completes it. Ultimately, the benefits of these tests are quite clear where NAPLAN has run for 12 years now across the country and has only just recently adapted to the changing times with it now being rolled out to be completed online by the end of 2022.
Analysis of the exam
NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing against national standards in literacy and numeracy. It provides schools, states and territories with information about how approaches to education are working, the areas to be prioritised for improvement, and those schools requiring support in their teaching content.
The results can assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress. NAPLAN tests are one aspect of each school’s assessment and reporting process. They do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance. On the site, it states that your child’s teacher will have the best insight into your child’s educational progress however I would think of this as just another source of information to you. In order for parents to effectively evaluate their child’s performance, I may use their school report, speak to their school’s teacher as well as use their NAPLAN scores as a basis for my evaluation. I believe the test was quite objective as you can see what they get in terms of marks and the sample size is very large with all students in that year group also completing the same exam. We can see different bands as mentioned previously depending on the year level and the questions that are asked are quite effective as they differ in difficulty level. Although you may not see real work application when students in year 3 or 5 do the exam, for instance, I believe the questions are still important as there are key elements that are crucial in life. Spelling in Language Conventions is one such example where if you can’t spell one or two-syllable words with regular spelling patterns with ease, this can make basic communication an issue post-school life.
Results
In terms of bands – in year 3 it is 1 to 6. For year 5, the bands go from 3 to 8. In year 7, it goes from 4 to 9. While lastly, for students in year 9, the bands range from 5 to 10. Is it difficult to get the national minimum standard? To be honest, it is extremely easy to exceed this score as you only need to get about 10% of the exam correct which is statistically possible with just guessing answers at times. Instead of the national minimum standard, you should be looking at the state average if you are just looking for your child to not be falling ‘behind’. Therefore, your goal as parents and students is to get children to exceed the average score in each of the exams and to be in the highest band possible especially if you’re goal is to get ahead.
The exam report scores are also usually delivered in September with the exams in May. Each student receives a report of their performance in each of the test categories. It is important to note that the tests provide an indication of their performance at that particular point in time not a definitive grading of their actual performance. What this means is that in May, that was the ability of the student and by the time the results come back in September, the student’s current performance could have improved or worsened since then. On top of that as well, if the student was influenced by outside factors like being in a stressful situation at home or was feeling under the weather when completing the exam, it will not take that into consideration when reflecting the results. This is why I urge the importance of using NAPLAN as part of the information that will ultimately inform how your student is progressing. For me, I like viewing the NAPLAN results especially for students who are aiming for an O.C class or a selective school here in NSW. This is because if you are not in the highest band in NAPLAN, the likelihood of you getting into a selective school is going to be quite slim as you need to be quite well rounded.
NAPLAN online
This new online exam provides schools with more flexibility in regard to when they actually have to complete it. Usually, it is always Although generally, the sequences of the exams are as follows:
For year 3 and 5, the test order is:
1. Writing (paper for year 3 only)
2. Reading
3. Language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
4. Numeracy
For year 7 & 9, the test order is:
1. Reading (day 1 or after writing)
2. Writing (day 2)
3. Language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
4. Numeracy
All students must complete the reading test before they sit language conventions as some of the words demonstrated in the exam may cross over therefore giving an inaccurate representation of the scores. That is why they have a set in this specific order.
On top of that as well, the reading, language conventions and numeracy exams will also be adaptive tests. This means depending on the students’ performance, the next set of questions will be more difficult or easier which makes it more tailored to their actual level. The benefit here is that when we had one standardised exam, typically students who were behind were discouraged to complete it as they struggled with the questions at the very beginning. Conversely, students who were quite ahead such as myself when I was younger as well as nearly everyone in my high school at Penrith & Girraween High School found it to be the easiest examination. Therefore, this adaptive test makes it more engaging for students from both spectrums of skill level so they can still be assessed appropriately.
In conclusion, I went over the ins and outs of the NAPLAN exam. From the origin, the process and rationale of why we have it as well as the new online NAPLAN format while adding my personal thoughts in between.
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