Last NAPLAN Post for 2009

This is the last NAPLAN Post for 2009 unless there is some important announcement from ACARA.
Seasons greetings to all.

NAPLAN Trial Test orders can still be placed during November and December.

Order form here.

Delivery will be in January 2010

NAPLAN 2010 orders

Schools and parents who have already placed orders for the 2010 Trial NAPLAN tests with detailed answers are advised that these tests will be ready for delivery by January 15, 2010. Delivery to parents will take place on that date. Schools will receive their trial tests in the first week of the 2010 school year.

Order form available here.

2009 NAPLAN Test Questions

The 2009 NAPLAN test questions can be downloaded at
http://www.naplan.edu.au/naplan_2009_tests.html

The detailed answers to these test questions are available from Kilbaha Multimedia Publishing
Details here.

NAPLAN: Transparency versus Naming and Shaming

Lovely emotive words and phrases aren't they?
Loved by the news media and politicians alike.

The controversy continues.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/972171/gillard-intent-on-publishing-school-info

Opinions divided on the use of NAPLAN results

This issue is being processed with feeling on both sides.

Read comments at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/17/2744666.htm

Not NAPLAN

A digression into a topic of current interest. Published in the Letters to the Editor, The Age Newspaper November 16, 2009.

Give birth to No. 1

RECENT articles on energy generation and use are welcome. However, it is disappointing that some of the fundamental science of energy production is not discussed. Perhaps this is because we are not particularly scientifically literate.

But if the Government of the day can propose a hugely expensive National Broadband Network, it can just as easily propose a national energy plan based on the hydrogen economy. It will be the only energy economy of the future.

Australia has land, sunlight, seawater and technical skill in abundance. Electricity from solar cells can electrolyse water to produce hydrogen and oxygen that can be recombined in fuel cells to produce electricity with water as the only by-product. The hydrogen can also be used as a transport fuel by burning it in oxygen.

Carbon (element No. 6) is dead. Let's save it to make diamonds. It is time to give birth to hydrogen - element No. 1 in more ways than one.

Bill Healy (Kew)

NAPLAN and My School

On the My School website, parents will be able to judge the performance of their child's school in the national assessment program for literacy and numeracy (NAPLAN) that is taken by students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Each school will be measured against 60 other schools with similar backgrounds, as well as the average performance of all Australian schools.

http://www.myschool.edu.au/

Australian National Curriculum petition

NAPLAN is just a small part of the Australian National Curriculum being developed.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is currently developing a National Curriculum for Science, Mathematics, English and History. The purpose of this petition is to request more transparency from ACARA in this process. Specifically:

(1) Tell us who are the writers of the content for the National Curriculum

(2) Tell us what is the representation of each of the States and Territories on the writing panels

(3) Give weekly updates on the progress of the curriculum development

Please sign and pass on to others if you agree. Go to
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/nationalcurriculum/

NAPLAN and teachers' pay

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike told The Sunday Age that results of the national literacy and numeracy test (NAPLAN) would be part of a scorecard to determine whether teachers are eligible for bonus payments of up to $7000.

Until now, it was uncertain whether the Teacher Rewards scheme, to be trialled at 25 public schools next year, would use the national test results to judge whether a teacher deserved a bonus.

Ms Pike said the School Rewards scheme, to be trialled in up to 50 schools next year, could also take NAPLAN into account in rewarding bonuses to entire schools.

NAPLAN Trial Tests and Answers are available from Kilbaha Multimedia Publishing

NAPLAN 2010

NAPLAN trial tests and detailed answers are available from Kilbaha Multimedia Publishing.

Download order form here.