Nap-worthy – NAPLAN Fails to Convince Experts

Experts remain unconvinced of NAPLAN's effectiveness even with the newly introduced four-band format and point to a sharp decline in student participation to previous years.

Doctor Venesser Fernandes from Monash University questions whether reducing wait times between conducting NAPLAN tests and publishing its results improve declining participation rates in the NAPLAN.

"Almost 1.3 million students across 9390 educational institutions across Australia took part in NAPLAN 2023. This year marked the first time since 2008 that this annual large-scale assessment took place in March instead of May," Dr Fernandes says.

"Historically, the NAPLAN was designed to generate large-scale data to allow system-based analysis to be undertaken, allowing policymakers, researchers, and strategic educational planners to understand student performance better. If this is the test’s only purpose, then this year’s performance data is now available for use by these stakeholders. In fact, the test has been positioned as a well-synchronised assessment of learning. However, student participation in NAPLAN has steadily declined, particularly among secondary students with some sharp declines found in 2022."

Students from remote locations, students with lower levels of parental education, and First Nations students have rates of participation much lower than the average. Low-performing students are also less likely to participate in the tests as they progress through schooling, and this is not a unique problem for Australia. Continuing disengagement from NAPLAN by these students increases the challenge of measuring and closing the equity gaps. 

"These findings may prove to be alarming as they might inaccurately influence future funding decisions and equity plans for students who need the most support in reaching their learning outcomes. Since, there could be increasing underestimations made on the differences in test performance between students from equity backgrounds and the broader Australian student population.”

In a recent study conducted through an online survey with 526 students who took the NAPLAN 2023 tests, initial findings indicate that 26% of students would prefer NAPLAN to be held over August/September, and 24.7% of students would prefer it to be held over October/November in any given year. The remaining sample indicates that 19.8% of students would prefer for the test to be held over June/July, and 23.8% still preferred an April/May testing window.

Only 5.7% of this sample opted for an early February/March testing alternative. As an assessment of learning or an assessment for learning this would indicate that for most students being tested after they have been at school for a few months and are more comfortable with undertaking an achievement test would assist in providing a more accurate indication of where their performance lies.  

"The findings also indicated that 68.8% of this sample would like the results to be shared within one month of being tested, and 19.4% were happy to know their results within two months. Much smaller percentages were found interested in having their results shared in four months or more or not at all with them. This further indicates that while participation rates of the NAPLAN have been declining, more engagement with this test could be stimulated if the wait time between test conduction and test results were reduced so that the data is more meaningful for students and their teachers.  

"How do students interpret and personalise their learning goals through these tests? Are teachers sufficiently equipped to assist students in bridging the gaps identified through the NAPLAN data? The disconnect of this large-scale data set and its relevance to regular school reporting remains as a glaringly obvious gap in the usefulness of the results from this test for the individual student and their parents.

“While there will be four levels of achievement reported against each of the NAPLAN 2023 tests, how parents and teachers will make sense of these bands and provide equitable support to students remains an unchartered territory that needs further and deeper considerations to be made. The NAPLAN still sits outside the student learning narrative that takes place within each Australian school and unless we bring it into the narrative, its purposefulness for students and their respective teachers and parents remains convoluted."