EXTERNAL HIGH STAKES TESTING: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL CONTEXTS - NAPLAN

In Australia, schools participate in a national assessment plan which has been created by ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) called NAPLAN. ACARA are an independent authority responsible for creating a cohesive national curriculum and collecting, and publishing information based on the performance of schools who participate in NAPLAN (ACARA, 2013). ACARA is directed and funded by the Australian Government.

According to the ACARA (2013) NAPLAN assesses students in years 3,5,7 and 9 and covers a broad range of subjects which include; reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, spelling and numeracy through an annual test.

Results are published on the My School website which was developed by ACARA (ACARA, 2013). The My School website is accessible to all members of the public and publishes information about NAPLAN results along with other information about schools.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported 'NAPLAN controversy forces change to writing test' (2015). Tom Decent (2015) discusses the controversy surrounding a question that was posed to all year levels; "Which law or rule would you make better in your view?" This forced ACARA to make the decision to split the question for the different years. In comparison to a global scale, Squirrel Main (2013) argues that the NAPLAN should reflect a higher standard. The results show that there was a significant difference in the amount of Australian students meeting the minimum requirements of NAPLAN versus PRILS. Main (2013) states NAPLAN needs to increase standards to align with global expectations.

Sue Creagh (2014) claims that the use of NAPLAN does not take into account teacher-based judgment about student progress (p.30). According to Creagh (2014) the test does not reflect issues based on students who have English as their second language, which in turn, could have a negative impact on the school.

Based on my findings, I feel NAPLAN has good intentions but certainly has some limitations. There are factors which NAPLAN does not take into account when publishing results, these include; students who have English as a second language, different teaching styles and strategies and on the day student feelings. There is a copious amount of pressure placed on NAPLAN results for on not only students, but teaching staff also.