Tuesday, February 7, 2012

NAPLAN basics for our new readers

On the web site, http://www.nap.edu.au/NAPLAN/Parent_Carer_support/index.html, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) outlines these basic facts about the NAPLAN Tests

About NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. All students in these year levels are expected to participate in tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and Numeracy. All government, and non-government education authorities have contributed to the development of NAPLAN materials.

Why students are required to participate in the NAPLAN test

NAPLAN is the measure through which governments, education authorities, schools, teachers and parents can determine whether or not young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy. The tests provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. They also provide schools, states and territories with information about how education programs are working and which areas need to be prioritised for improvement.
NAPLAN tests are one aspect of the school's assessment and reporting process, and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student's performance.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE BY KILBAHA MULTIMEDIA PUBLISHING
It has just been pointed out by a reader that for the May 2010 NAPLAN Tests, ONLY the numeracy tests have been made available on the ACARA website. Hopefully, schools have had the good sense to keep copies of the May 2010 and May 2011 NAPLAN tests. If you have not already done so, download the May 2008 and May 2009 NAPLAN tests NOW. there is no telling how long they will be there!