Naplan Online Update

I am pleased to inform you that we have finished our Naplan Online Testing. I would like to commend all the students for embracing the online approach to complete the tests. When I asked the students for their feedback, many of them said that they preferred the online test compared to the paper-base booklet style. When I asked them why, the responses varied; “I didn’t feel nervous, as I only saw one question (on the screen) at a time but when I was in Year 3, I was nervous as soon as I saw how many questions I had to answer in the booklet”, “I like the fact you can flag questions and come back to double-check it easily”, “The personal clock on my screen kept me on track and I didn’t need to look around the room and then get distracted, I felt I was pretty focused”.

I understand many parents have mixed reviews about completing the testing online but we must remember that our children are growing up at a rapid rate, in a technological world where many students (even before they begin school), are able to navigate a device whether it’s an iPad, iPhone and/or a laptop. Throughout the tests, our students were very capable at navigating the NAPLAN site and our school was well prepared to operate multiple devices at once with minimal and minor connectivity issues. Thank you Year Three and Five Teachers for ensuring that students were  familiar with the test formats and providing the students with appropriate support and guidance.

Finally, Naplan tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. It is important to remember that Naplan is not about passing or failing, but about assessing learning progress. At the classroom level it is one of a number of important tools used by teachers to measure student progress and it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. The Online Testing provided tailored (or adaptive) testing, designed to assess a wider range of student abilities and to measure student achievement more precisely. The children were not concerned if they found a question more challenging than usual. A student’s overall Naplan score is based on the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly.

Congratulations to all Year 3 and 5 students who sat the Naplan 2019!

Mrs Andrea Martin
Naplan Coordinator