NSW Department of Education and Training

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The national tests will provide the most comprehensive information ever on the achievement of our students and schools in Australia.

The NAPLAN results provide information useful to both parents and teachers. The report helps parents to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their child in literacy and numeracy. Their child’s teachers will use this information to address their child’s literacy and numeracy needs across all subjects.

The cover of the report tells the parent what students had to do in the tests and gives the parent information about how to read the report. Results and some comments about their child’s performance are included in the centre pages of this report.

The results are given in bands which indicate levels of achievement. The achievement scale represents increasing levels of skills and understanding demonstrated in the tests. The last page of this report tells the parent some of the things that students had to do to get into each band.

Their child’s individual result is shown on this report. The school’s average results and the national average are also indicated as is the range of achievement for the middle 60% of Australian students. This information will allow the parent to see how their child compares with other students who did the test.

Answer:
All Year 3 and 5 students are candidates for the NAPLAN. However, as for the BST, ELLA and SNAP, consideration for exemption can be given to students:

• newly arrived in Australia (less than a year before the test) and with a language background other than English
• with significant intellectual delay.
  Students with confirmed disabilities or difficulties in learning are expected to participate in the testing. However, parents do have the right to withdraw their children from testing. This is classified as a parent withdrawal and not as an exemption.
  Further information on exemptions can be found in the administration manual, the School Manual of Administrative Procedures, can be found by following the NSW Public Schools link on the NAPLAN site.

Signed parent/carer consent forms are required for students exempted from the national tests on the grounds of language proficiency or significant intellectual delay. The signed form must be kept at the school.

All exempt students must meet the requirements above and the parents must sign the form. The form can be found on the EMSAD NAPLAN website.

Answer:
The national numeracy assessment is designed to assess mathematics content covered in all states and territories.

In NSW, the Year 7 numeracy assessment will be based upon the mathematics content of Stage 3, as is the current Secondary Numeracy Assessment Program (SNAP) that it will replace. Similarly, the Year 9 numeracy assessment will relate to Stage 4 mathematics content.

For more information on the test specifications, please see the National assessment program Secondary newsletter No:1.

Answer:
In general, students should be familiar with the basic operations with a calculator, particularly in relation to decimals. The best general guide to the skills required is the sample Numeracy Calculator-Allowed Year 7 sample paper at
http://www.naplan.edu.au/test_samples/numeracy/numeracy_year_7.html

More specific advice for NSW schools on the use of the calculator in Year 7 and the sequencing of Year 7 topics is available at http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/mathematics/years7_10/teaching/using_cal.htm

Answer:
If a child has a temporary illness that prevents him or her from attending school, they should be classed as absent rather than withdrawn by parent/carer, and if the child has a significant disability they would usually be considered for exemption rather than withdrawal. In the case of both parent withdrawal and exemption, a consent form must be signed by the parent/carer and stored at the school for audit purposes.

Only students who sit the test will be included in school average calculations: absent, exempt or withdrawn students are not counted as 'zero' scores. If a parent or carer withdraws a student from the tests that student is not represented in the school result. However, the names of all students who do not sit the test are reported back to the school and region.

Answer:
The Principal can give permission for students who are on suspension from school to enter school grounds for the purpose of sitting the tests, as per the Suspension and Expulsion of School Students - Procedures. These Procedures state, in part, 7.2.3 'In all cases, the notification must include: parent(s) or carer(s) responsibility for the care and safety of the student while under suspension, and the clear expectation that the student should not be on school grounds without the permission of the principal.'

Principals should apply these Procedures on a case by case basis, giving due consideration to whether the student on suspension poses a risk to staff, students or other persons. Appropriate risk assessment procedures for students on long suspension from school should be adhered to in making such decisions per 7.3.11 of the Suspension and Expulsion of School Students - Procedures.

What topic areas (not just strands) will be tested in the Year 9 numeracy test as the published numeracy benchmarks only cover Years 3, 5 and 7. What will Year 9 students be expected to know by the time of the test?

Answer:There are links on the NAPLAN website to the National Statements of Learning for Mathematics:
The NSW Office of the Board of Studies is currently in the process of identifying how the national tests relate to the NSW syllabuses. However, it would be reasonable to assume that the National Assessment Program will contain questions intended to test the full range of student ability in each of Years 3, 5, 7,and 9,and therefore that some items will contain content that is beyond Stage 4 for Year 9.

Is it acceptable for teachers to read the NAPLAN numeracy paper to a student?

Answer:A student may only have a reader for the Numeracy paper if the school's Learning Support Team has convened and determined that a student's literacy skills are so poor that they cannot access the numeracy part of the question.
Please see page 27 of the School Manual which gives specific instructions for the use of a reader in Numeracy.
Also, please note that under no circumstances are the Reading or Language sections to be read.

Does the register of close relationships for staff need to be completed by every staff member?
What is the purpose of the register of 'close relationships'?

Answer:No! The form does not need to be completed by every staff member in your school.

The intent of the register of close relationships is not to list all staff members in a school. The form should only be signed by the Principal and any staff member who is administering the test or who has access to the test and who is related to students who will be sitting the test in the current year.

The list generated is intended to identify any close relationships between staff members and students that have the potential to influence the participation/ performance of a student participating in NAPLAN either within the same school or attending another school.

If a teacher has a close relationship, such as those described in the manual (on page 33), with a student in another school but is not administering the test and will not have access to the test that that student will be sitting then there would be no need to complete the register.