NAPLAN tests are the standardised tests for Australian school students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. NAPLAN stands for The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy and students are tested on reading, writing, conventions of language and numeracy, with the conventions of language being spelling, grammar and punctuation.
They've been part of Australian students' lives since 2008 but not everybody likes them. Naturally, there were reasons for introducing them, but there are also a lot of downsides to the tests.
Let's see what the pros and cons are for NAPLAN testing.
How NAPLAN Testing Works
By how NAPLAN testing works, we mean how the tests are carried out. Whether or not the tests "work" is the subject of our debate and there are good arguments on both sides.
With NAPLAN testing, students take tests across the 4 domains we mentioned earlier and are put into different “bands”. Essentially, the bands are their grades or scores and indicate whether or not the student is above or below other students across the country in terms of numeracy and literacy.
There isn't a pass or fail, but even if there isn't the wording, educators, parents, and students are aware that the children's abilities are being scored and certain results are better than others.
Similarly, the grading differs for each Year taking the tests. For example, the assessment scale for Year 3 will put students into Bands 1-5 whereas Year 9 students will be allocated Bands 5-10 according to their performance.
For each test, the second-lowest band is considered to be the national minimum standard.
Who Takes NAPLAN Tests?
The tests are for every student in Australia in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9, though students can be exempted on disability grounds or if English isn't their first language and they've been in school for less than a year.
As the exams aren't graded with a pass or fail, even students who could be exempt from the testing are encouraged to participate anyway as the exams should give an indication of their abilities in maths and English.
Parents and guardians can also withdraw students from the testing for pretty much any reason, though they do have to speak to the school first and get their official withdrawal request to the appropriate authorities before the testing begins.
Most students will take the tests using pencil and paper but online testing has also been trialled, though this comes with its own criticisms as it's hard to standardise a test when the means of taking the test aren't standardised.
The Pros of NAPLAN Testing
Most of the advantages of NAPLAN Testing are the reasons the tests were introduced in the first place. After all, there's very little point in doing something if you can't come up with a reason for doing it.
Initially, the reasons were that the testing would improve Australian education and arose from the Adelaide declaration on national goals for schooling in the 21st century in 1999. 8 years later, the first NAPLAN tests were being taken by students.
NAPLAN Testing Can Lead to Improvements
For government officials, schools, and educators, the results of NAPLAN testing can be used to find and highlight areas where improvements are needed.
It can be useful for them to see where students are performing better and where students are performing worse so they can appropriately allocate funds and resources where needed.
Conversely, they can also see if changes made have been effective and it also allows local authorities to compare themselves with other areas and even across states, which was more difficult previously when there wasn't any national standardised testing in these areas and at these levels.
NAPLAN Testing Can Make Educators and the Government Accountable
Similarly, the government and educators can see the results, implement changes, and see if the changes work, it also allows parents and students to hold those responsible.
NAPLAN testing is another way that parents and students can see if education policy is working, at least in terms of numeracy and literacy, though there is the question of how effectively NAPLAN testing can show this, we'll save that for the disadvantages section.
NAPLAN Testing Can Help Struggling Students
When it comes to students struggling with literacy and numeracy, it's better to deal with any issues as soon as possible. NAPLAN testing can help individual students discover their strengths and weaknesses in terms of numeracy and literacy.
If a child performs poorly in NAPLAN testing, it doesn't even necessarily mean that they struggle with maths or English, but it does allow parents and teachers to check before they start falling behind.
It may just turn out that the child had a bad day when they were taking the tests or that the format and questions don't fairly represent or test their abilities, but it can help if parents and teachers check that everything's alright in the event of unexpected results.
In the event there is an underlying problem affecting the child's education, then it's better to discover it sooner rather than later so that changes can be made to help them. Regular testing isn't the only answer, but it can be one of the indicators of a student's progress and level.
The Cons of NAPLAN Testing
Though we've seen a few reasons why NAPLAN testing is worthwhile and the benefits it can bring, it's far from a perfect system and there are lots of interesting and valid points to be made about the downsides.
NAPLAN Distracts Schools and Educators
While NAPLAN is supposed to be just for monitoring numeracy and literacy in schools through a few days of testing and is something that nobody is supposed to focus too much on, it can become a distraction. Though you can prepare for NAPLAN tests, you don't need to overdo it.
Teachers and educators can be judged on their students' performance through NAPLAN, which will encourage them to put a greater focus on performing well in NAPLAN tests.
In New Zealand, National Standards (an equivalent system to NAPLAN) were scrapped after they were found to be a distraction and a drain on time, money, and resources as schools, teachers, and students spent too much time trying to get better results from them.
NAPLAN is a One-Size-Fits-All Solution
Another one of the main issues with NAPLAN is that it's a single solution that tests every student in the same way. While this can be useful for statistics and broader policy decisions, it also ignores that every state, area, town, school, and child is different and can be as useful as comparing apples to oranges.
It can be a useful gauge in certain respects, but it certainly can't be the only way that students are assessed.
NAPLAN Is Based on an Outdated and Ineffective System
One of the criticisms aimed at NAPLAN since the very beginning has been its similarity to the No Child Left Behind reforms in the US.
It's the classic argument that reducing students to numbers and test scores and testing a very narrow range of skills doesn't lead to better students or education. Instead, these kinds of systems lead to teachers, schools, and government officials competing to maximise scores and test results rather than effectively teaching students.
NAPLAN Testing is aligned with the national curricula for maths and English, but in the same way that too much time is spent focusing on the tests themselves rather than what students are supposed to be learning, students can actually learn less as their educators and representatives are focusing on getting the best NAPLAN results rather than provide a better education.
NAPLAN Testing Can Cause Stress
The focus or even obsession with NAPLAN can also put undue pressure on students. Though the tests are supposed to just gauge a student's ability in maths and English to give us a better indication of how students are performing across the nation, each individual student is under pressure to perform to the best of their ability for a testing system that mightn't even benefit them academically or in terms of their career.
NAPLAN Tests Have Come Under Criticism for Testing the Wrong Things
The tests themselves have also come under criticism for being quite ridiculous with certain educators going as far as to say that they reward students for the wrong thing.
There's the classic adage of testing a fish's ability to climb a tree and in some cases, NAPLAN testing only shows a student's ability to do well on a NAPLAN test.
NAPLAN tests aren't really considered by universities, which might say something about their use. They're one metric to test a student's ability in maths and English, but no student should worry too much about them as, in a lot of ways, the tests don't really seem to be designed for them.
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