Yahoo Finance Caution required in turning NAPLAN into 'high-stakes test': Grattan Institute
Victorian education minister James Merlino has suggested overhauling the controversial NAPLAN testing system to address sliding performance, including tying results to future job applications.
Merlino said the Victorian state government will set up a “special principal advisory group” to find out how to improve year 9 students’ engagement with the NAPLAN test.
Related story: Alarming new secondary school test results
“This could include a proficiency certificate that students could use when seeking a part-time job, when choosing subjects for senior secondary or when looking at pathways beyond school,” Merlino said.
He said this was necessary as students were disengaged with the test, as preliminary results for 2019 show there has been no improvement in numeracy and literacy among that cohort.
"We need our Year 9 students to think 'OK, this test means something, I'm going to give it my best shot, and I'm going to give it my best shot because I'm going to get a certificate that's going to go into my careers portfolio'," he told the ABC.
Focus on proficiency ‘would be valuable’, but caution needed with NAPLAN: Grattan
While the education system needs to shift focus to proficiency, rather than minimum national standards, using NAPLAN as a means to provide a proficiency certificate is not a perfect idea, the Grattan Institute’s school education program director, Dr Peter Goss told Yahoo Finance.
“I really support the idea of focusing on proficiency. The national minimum standards are too low... a year 9 student who's just meeting the national minimum standards is at about the same level as an average year 5 student,” he said.
“That's too low.. So focusing on more of a proficiency standard across the board would be valuable.
“[However] I'm a little cautious about using it [NAPLAN] as a certificate for employers. NAPLAN for me is, at it's best, a tool that provides information that can be used to drive improvement, rather than some form of a high-stakes test where there are consequences.”
He said such a certificate “cuts both ways” and would provide incentives for schools and students to meet that proficiency standard, potentially at the cost of other important elements of education.
Merlino also proposed shifting the testing years from years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to years 4, 6, 8 and 10, arguing testing in year 6 will expose weaknesses and strengths prior to students heading into high school, with testing in year 10 also useful for students heading into vocational occupations, rather than pursuing further in-school education.
All Australian students sit the NAPLAN tests in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 which test numeracy and reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar. The tests were first introduced in 2008.
Across the country, year 7 and year 9 students’ results fell slightly for writing, with year 9 students’ results flat across all tested areas.
In primary schools, students’ results were slightly higher.
The tests themselves came under fire this year, with the Australian Education Union (AEU) warning outages in the testing system - which was performed online for the first time - seriously compromise students’ results.
“Teachers and principals cannot trust NAPLAN or the results it has produced,” acting AEU federal president Meredith Peace said.
“We already know that tens of thousands of public school students were unable to log on or finish the test due to NAPLAN online connectivity issues, leaving many students anxious and some in tears after repeatedly losing work.”
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