National Assessment Program- Literacy

and Numeracy:
OPPOR TUNI TI ES:

CHALLENG ES:
Teaching to the test

The performance of an
individual student can
be compared to the
average performance of
all students in Australia

(Comber & Nixon 2009, p. 338)

(National Assessment Program

2013a)

(My Cute Graphic 2006)

Community Perspective:

NAPLAN is an important
source of information,
used to inform school
improvement
agendashows us what
our students can and cant
do and where we need to
take them

Focus of NAPLAN has

moved away from students,
to being a comparison
between schools (Dulfer
2012) through the My School
website

(Interview With Principals 2013)

(My Cute Graphic 2006)

Principal Perspective:

Schools that get poor

results in NAPLAN
have alterations in
enrolments in
following years
(Dulfer 2012)

Teacher
Perspective:

NAPLAN results applied to

achievements for a whole year
when it only ascertains learning
prior to May

(NAPLAN a teachers perspective 2013)

Results provide information for students,

parents, teachers and principals about
student achievement which can be used to
inform teaching and learning programs
(Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2015)

A key program
for promoting
quality education
in Australia
through
promoting
accountability
and
transparency

Tests as they stand are at odds

with the goals of education
propounded in the Melbourne
Declaration of on Education
Goals for Young Australians

(My Cute Graphic 2006)

Enables comparisons to
be made between schools
based on results

(Wyn, Turbull & Grimshaw 2014, p. 20)

Has a narrow focus, lacked relevance to

students and their prior learning, lessened
collaboration in the classroom and promoted
approaches that lessened deep learning

(Thompson 2013, p. 63)

(Thompson 2013, p. 69)

(Thompson 2013, p.
81)

Making classrooms more

competitive, less inclusive
places that could not cope
with the diversity of
students needs and
talents

(My School 2016)

(Cormack & Comber 2013, p. 81)

(NeaToday 2013)

(School District 28 2015)

Helped put literacy and numeracy

education in the spotlight as key
national and state educational
priorities
(Harris et al. 2013, p. 49)

Labelled the test as

ineffective, indecisive, and
irrelevant and promote
keeping their children home
on testing days
(Save Our Schools 2012)

(NeaToday 2013)

Parents Perspective:
Covers a limited range of content and
skills not representative of the whole
literacy and numeracy domain
(Wu & Hornsby 2014, p. 16)