A guide to NAPLAN
Background
NAPLAN stands for ‘National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy'. Its purpose is to determine if educational outcomes have been achieved by students and is used to inform government policy and curriculum planning.
It is a secure assessment with the tests being set external from the school, tests being marked externally and strict rules on how tests must be administered.
What is tested?
Tests are completed in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 of school. There are 4 components tested:
- Reading comprehension
- Writing – in 2012 students will write a persuasive text
- Language Conventions – spelling, grammar, punctuation
- Numeracy
Tests are completed over 3 days in May.
How do we prepare students?
NAPLAN is not an event we want students to be stressed about, so preparation is completed as part of regular class work. eg. Students will see past NAPLAN questions as part of their homework, but the homework will not mention that they are NAPLAN questions.
Students are taught features of persuasive writing.
‘Test readiness' is talked about – strategies to scan passages for comprehension, how to attempt multiple choice questions, what to do if you don't know an answer.
What do the results show us?
Results are sent to schools in a software program called ‘Smart'. The data given includes:
- individual results,
- school trends over several years,
- how the school performed compared to other schools in the state and
- how much the children have ‘grown' between NAPLANs in Years 3 and 5.
What do we do with the information?
From the information, we identify students with strengths and weaknesses so programs can be developed to assist those children. We identify common strengths and weaknesses across the school to inform grade and whole school planning. Target areas are identified for improvement in literacy and numeracy so we are constantly adapting our teaching to suit the needs of our students.
For more information, visit naplan.edu.au or ask your child's teacher.