What NAPLAN tests, and when

Who sits it

All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to take part, and ACARA calls NAPLAN the only nationwide assessment that every Australian child undertakes. It says every effort goes into keeping the tests fair whatever a student’s language background, school location or disability; the arrangements for students with disability have their own guide on adjustments.

NAPLAN is one part of how a school assesses and reports on its students. ACARA is clear that it does not replace the extensive, ongoing assessment teachers make of each student.

The four tests

The literacy tests draw on the English learning area and the numeracy test on Mathematics, and since 2016 the tests have been aligned with the Australian Curriculum in both.

Writing

Students are given a writing prompt, an idea or topic, and write a response in one text type: narrative or persuasive. The type is revealed on the day, with no choice. Every year level writes the same type, but Years 3 and 5 get a different prompt from Years 7 and 9, and Year 3 writes on paper while the older years write online.

Reading

Students read a range of informative, imaginative and persuasive texts, then answer questions about them. ACARA says the test measures literacy across the English learning area, in line with the Australian Curriculum: English.

Conventions of language

Spelling first, then grammar and punctuation, in two sections; once a student moves into the second, the spelling section locks. Because spelling is assessed, the device runs a locked-down browser with no spell-checking.

Numeracy

Number, algebra, measurement, space, statistics and probability. The Year 7 and Year 9 tests have a short section without a calculator, in which students show arithmetical calculation skills; an online calculator is there for the rest.

How the online tests behave

The online tests are tailored, or adaptive: the questions may become harder or easier depending on how a student answers. ACARA says this keeps students engaged, lets a wide range of abilities be assessed, and measures achievement more precisely. A result therefore rests on two things together: how many questions the student got right, and the average difficulty of the questions they were given.

In reading, numeracy and conventions of language, a question may be multiple choice, technology-enhanced (dragging and dropping, for instance) or ask for a short written answer. The writing test asks for one continuous piece of text.

Who marks what

Multiple-choice and technology-enhanced answers are marked electronically. Writing is marked by people: assessors given intensive training in a marking guide with 10 criteria. Every marker in the country uses the same guide, has the same training and goes through the same quality checks, and the test administration authority in each state and territory runs the marking in its own jurisdiction.

The test window, day by day

The window lasts 9 days, which ACARA says allows for schools that cannot fit the tests into a shorter time. Schools must schedule the tests as soon as they can within it, putting the first week first and mornings ahead of afternoons.

1. Day 1

   Writing. Year 3 writes on paper, and only on day 1. Years 5, 7 and 9 must start writing on day 1 too, and finishing it that day comes first; day 2 is used only where technical or logistical limits get in the way.

2. The days after

   Reading, then conventions of language, then numeracy: each is to be completed after the one before, on days each school schedules within the window. A student sitting more than one test in a day must have a break of at least 20 minutes between sessions.

3. Catch-ups

   A student absent for a test can sit it later in the window, and schools should try to keep catch-ups in the set order of tests. Writing catch-ups should happen as soon as possible: for Year 3 they are allowed until the end of day 4, and for Years 5, 7 and 9 until the end of day 9.

4. If a test is disrupted

   A class that cannot start or finish a test because of a disruption is rescheduled as soon as possible within the window, and rescheduled writing comes ahead of sessions for the other tests. If writing has to move past day 1 for Year 3, or past day 2 for the older years, the school must tell its test administration authority as soon as possible.

Seeing the kinds of questions

ACARA runs a public demonstration site where anyone can see and try the types of questions in a NAPLAN test. What else it says about getting ready, and what it does not recommend, is in what ACARA says about preparing for NAPLAN. Results reach families through the school later in the year, and reading a NAPLAN report explains the four proficiency levels they use.