NAPLAN
National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy
NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. The assessments are undertaken nationwide, every year, in the second full week in May.
Example Tests
NAPLAN tests identify whether all students have the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for their learning, and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community. Students are assessed using common national tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
NAPLAN tests broadly reflect important aspects of literacy and numeracy in the Australian Curriculum adopted by each state or territory. The types of test formats and questions are familiar to teachers and students across Australia.
Numeracy
The main reference for numeracy as well as mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding is the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. The numeracy tests assess the proficiency strands of understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning across the three content strands of mathematics: number and algebra; measurement and geometry; and statistics and probability.
Reading
These tests focus on the reading of written English. Knowledge and interpretation of language conventions in context are also an important part of reading and are drawn upon in many reading questions.
Writing
The Australian Curriculum: English requires students to be taught a variety of forms of writing at school. The three main text types (previously called genres) that are taught are imaginative writing – including narrative writing, informative writing and persuasive writing. In the writing tests, students are provided with a ‘writing stimulus’ (sometimes called a prompt – an idea or topic) and asked to write a response in a particular text type.
Language Conventions
The language conventions tests assess spelling, grammar and punctuation. Literacy knowledge and skills are essential to effective communication across all learning areas. However, the tools of language, including language conventions, are explicitly developed in the English learning area.