The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. All students in these year levels are expected to participate in tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar, and punctuation) and numeracy.
The tests provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. They also provide us with information about how education programs are working and which areas need to be prioritised for improvement.
NAPLAN tests are one aspect of St Edmund’s assessment and reporting process, and do not replace the extensive, ongoing assessments made by teachers about each student’s performance.
There are four tests for students to undertake in the Year 5 NAPLAN, while there are five for Years 7 and 9. These include the following areas;
- Language Conventionsexamines a child’s mastery of Australian English grammar, spelling and language understanding, as this is the main dialect used in the country. Questions are either multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank.
- Writing encompasses each student’s knowledge of how to combine language, formal writing formats, and imagination into a short, concise piece of original text. Each student is given a ‘writing stimulus’ and a lined booklet to write in, including planning space.
- In the Reading, students are provided with a magazine which includes a wide range of text types they will have encountered previously in their education. This is accompanied by a booklet containing both multiple choice and short answer questions corresponding to each text in the magazine.
- The Year 3 and Year 5 Numeracysection is one exam. Children use their mathematical fluency and problem-solving skills to answer multiple choice, short answer, and fill-in-the-blank questions.
- Year 7 and Year 9 Numeracyconsists of two exams. The first is known as a non-calculator and is similar to the Year 3 and 5 test. The second is the calculator allowed, requiring the provision of and for students to use, a ‘scientific calculator’.
If parents have additional questions please contact us on 02 6295 3598.