NAPLAN
National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy
Until 2007 each state and territory of Australia held individual State-based Basic Skills test annually. In 2008 the Federal Government introduced the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) held in May of each year for all Year 3, 5, 7 & 9 students in Australia. The tests were first held in 2008 and later that year every student received their own assessment reports in Reading and Comprehension, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation), Written Expression and in Numeracy.
In 2009 the NAPLAN tests will be held over three days from Tuesday 12th May to Thursday 14th May. I have received many enquiries from parents asking how they can best help their children to prepare for these tests during these two months before the exams. In the next few articles I will write on all aspects of the NAPLAN tests.
The 2008 results are now available and from the analysis of these results we can see what is necessary to improve performance in each subject in the tests in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Remember the tests include Reading and Comprehension, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation), Written Expression and Numeracy. After the assessments are completed, we can see detailed analysis by state, school, gender and geographical area. Such vital information can be used to shape the future of education in Australia. By examining the results and analysis state by state and school by school, educators, principals and teachers can take necessary measures to improve methods and forge new directions in education. This would encourage relevant authorities to respond and innovate appropriately. At the same time, parents and students can use their results to diagnose weaknesses and seize opportunities for improvement.
In some other countries with a similar type of national assessment program the publication of student results by state or province has become a political issue, with rewards for success and public criticism of educators and teachers in schools performing poorly. In Australia there is some resistance within the education systems towards the National Assessment Program but the Federal Government is determined to proceed with it.
It would be impossible for me to give a complete analysis here of all the detailed information now available as a result of the 2008 NAPLAN tests. However here are a few general points I would like to share with you.
Results vary from state to state with students from NSW, ACT and Victoria performing better than those from the other states and territories. The Northern Territories result was particularly poor.
English ??Female students in all levels performed better than males in Reading, Writing and Language Conventions.
Numeracy ??Male students outperformed the females. Students from metropolitan areas did better that those from outer metropolitan areas, who in turn performed better than students from rural and outlying areas.
The children of better educated parents and those from a higher socio-economic background performed more favourably than the children of less educated parents.
Primary students from a language background other than English did not perform as well as students from an English speaking background in Reading, Writing and Grammar. However they did better than those from an English speaking background in Spelling.
Students from a language background other than English out-performed all others in Numeracy.
From this we can deduce that migrant children, even those who have studied in Australia, tend to have weaker results in Reading, Writing and Grammar. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they may not be speaking much English at home.
In later articles, I will analyse results by geographical area, gender and language in more detail, but before that we need to understand that Australia is currently rated 19th out of 28 among OECD(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in educational performance. This ranking is alarming and although the Federal Government is obviously aware of the problem and is trying to make changes, the pace of change is too slow as there is too much resistance from many in some State Education Departments.
I am sure that my readers are all committed to improve education in Australia in the 21st Century. Fortunately we now have this standard national test ??NAPLAN. I believe such a test provides the information necessary for educators, teachers and students to plan for better methods of teaching ??learning in order to move ahead in the future.
As the Director of CS Education and someone who values progressive education, I have prepared a series of NAPLAN type tests for all levels and in all subjects. These are available as a series of online trial tests at our website www |
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