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NAPLAN
National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy

What is NAPLAN?
NAPLAN is an annual Australian-wide
assessment consisting of tests in reading,
writing, language conventions and
numeracy (NAP 2013).
Given to students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Developed by the Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority
(ACARA), and jointly funded by
Commonwealth, state and territory
governments and is overseen by
MCEEDYA (Gable & Lingard 2013, p.5).

NAPLAN Infographic

What are the objectives?

NAPLAN tests
provide information
for students,
parents, teachers
and principals about
student
achievement which
can be used to
inform teaching and
learning programs
(NAP 2013).

(SSCEE 2014, p.7)

What do the tests look like?

The tests measure student
proficiency in line with the
Statements of Learning for
English or Mathematics.
They are made up of multiplechoice and short answer
questions apart from the writing
sample where students are
required to write a text in a
specified genre (narrative,
informative, or persuasive)
generated from a prompt.
(NAP 2013)
Students expected reading skills and
understandings

Writing criteria det

ails

http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/05/08/1226052/135
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Students expected numeracy skills and

understandings

Media perspectives
There has been an extensive
amount of media scrutiny in
regards to NAPLAN testing,
reporting, student achievement
and overall educational outcomes.

Channel 9, Today Show 9 May 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=_vZTeZxhNlc

ABC News, Warning about NAPLAN tests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vZTeZxhNlc

Media perspectives
NAPLAN is driv
ing our studen
ts backwards
(
Sydney Mornin
g Herald, May
2013)

Parental concerns, political influence

and bias within media corporations
needs to be taken into account when
viewing the various perspectives
presented.
Statistics make great headlines in
increasing community concern,
political blame and the need for
educational policy reforms.

NAPLAN myths: i
ts not a highstakes test
(McGaw 2012)

Positive impacts
NAPLAN supports an increased focus on
literacy and numeracy skills (Dulfer,
Polesel, Rice 2012, p.31).
Aggregate results are helpful in
supporting schools to identify professional
learning needs and areas for the
improvement of teaching practice (Dulfer,
Polesel, Rice 2012, p.31).
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Negative impacts
Teacher practice
As Thompson & Harbaugh (2013, p. 302)
contend, teachers may teach to the test
and revert to lecturing and directing
teaching techniques that have a negative
impact on student creativity and higherorder thinking skills.
Curriculum
Focusing on tests can lead to a narrowed
curriculum, leading to a less diverse and
creative classroom environment (Reid
cited in Thompson & Harbaugh 2013, p.
303).

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Negative impacts
Students
An emphasis on testing may lower student engagement and long-term
intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Weinstein cited in Thompson & Harbaugh
2013, p.303), and has the potential to negatively impact on student health
and wellbeing (Dulfer, Polesel, Rice 2012, p.31).
Community
According to Dulfer, Polesel & Rice (2012, p.31) NAPLAN results can impact
on a schools reputation, and its capacity to attract and retain students and
staff. In relation to equity Baker (cited in Thompson & Harbaugh 2013,
p.303), contends that high-stakes testing may actually widen the gap
between the highest and lowest achieving students.

Conclusions
NAPLAN certainly serves a purpose as
one form of data collection to assess
student achievement. Education of
stakeholders needs to highlight this
fact to allay concerns and minimise
negative impacts. Concerns arise
through the misinterpretation of the
data presented on the MySchool
website, by parents, media and
political interests, and the
unwarranted pressure placed on
students.

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