NAPLAN is incredibly important tool for schools to be able not only track the progress of a single student over a set time period but also to track educational programs within individual schools Australia wide as well as compare student results with like socioeconomic schools to see if individual learning programmes are working within the scocioeconmic cohort, and thus look at different methods of teaching or delivering the national curriculum to fit the individual schools,

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@kilroy_is_here wrote:
NAPLAN is incredibly important tool for schools to be able not only track the progress of a single student over a set time period but also to track educational programs within individual schools Australia wide as well as compare student results with like socioeconomic schools to see if individual learning programmes are working within the scocioeconmic cohort, and thus look at different methods of teaching or delivering the national curriculum to fit the individual schools,

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But they dont do that. And taking into account the margin of error in the grade 5 and year 7 tests, it can appear sometimes that students perform worse in the year 7 test than what they did in the grade 5 one.  It is expected that approx 2.5% of students will appear to go backwards from grade 5 to year 7 when they have actually made 2 years of progress. Therefore it is inappropriate to expect teachers and schools to track students progress using Naplan scores.

 

The curriculum is standardised Australia wide from prep to year 12.  Naplan tests force all students to respond in the same way stifling individuality and creativity. 

They are testing literacy and numeracy abilities. Essential basics for students.

Not many educationsl exams in the students future will allow for individuality or creativity in answers.

Creativity isn't what they are tracking,

we mustn't stress the little dears. Fancy asking them to sit a test! Whatever next? Akin to abuse, I say.

 

When I was a boy ...........................

With you there Daydream my son was dressed, his room done and eating breakfast by 6.30 this morning he couldn't wait to get to school.  My son said he loves the challenge of tests, but still found it very easy.   My daughter was also excited about it just not up at the crack of dawn, she was feeling a bit under the weather but wasn't going to stay home.

 

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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So I can only imagine the stress kids in selective schools are facing this week. Or kids who's parents have put pressure on them to do well.

 

Poor little mites.

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Children from a selective school would sail through the questions that you posted Martini.

 

Just for my own interest I "borrowed" my neighbour's nine, nearly 10 year old granddaughter and gave her the questions.  She sailed through all of the maths questions very quickly with only one mistake.

The poetry took her a bit longer and she did have to refer back to the poem a few times.  As far as I could see she was correct in her answers.

 

As far as I am concerned those questions should be a shoe in for the average 12 year old which I believe is the age group they are aimed at.  Yes, they will weed out those who are not up to the standard, but isn't that what they are meant to do?

 

It is really just like the old IQ tests (do they still do IQ testing these days?)   They are meant to find out where a student's strengths and weaknesses lie.

When my kids were at primary school in NZ, they did some tests that were NSW tests and the results were graded - Distinction down and the students received certificates. From memory the teachers selected which students could sit them. I suppose from getting used to doing those, when they moved to Aust sitting the Naplan tests didn't worry them.