The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy – has been the subject of fierce debate since it was introduced in 2008.
Last month, John Ainley’s report for the Australian Council of Education Research showed that despite a decade of testing, there’s been no improvement in students’ maths and reading results.
According to some, Ainley’s report shows NAPLAN has failed.
In Queensland, Education Minister, Grace Grace said: “I want to have a look at how NAPLAN is being delivered in our classrooms and whether children are actually benefiting from the NAPLAN tests.”
This is entirely the wrong question.
Top Comments
The problem isn’t the test itself it is the focus on teaching to the test that warps our perspective on student achievement. As an English high school teacher I can tell you the damage has on students far out weighs any benefits the data collected from the test has. Ask anyone in the education profession and they will say the same thing - NAPLAN is detrimental to our students.
Well, according to one expert, the one who came into review NAPLAN, the test is bizarre and flawed and doesn't provide an accurate picture of anything. It's pointless to put our kids through it, heaps of them either don't try or stress themselves out to the max, some kids are told to stay home, so how is an accurate picture being painted, exactly? I don't know why the success of students and schools cannot be measured with their actual marks on actual school work. This is a waste of time and money in my opinion, because it isn't doing what it was designed to do.