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Comment by Ken Woolford on November 23, 2010 at 9:48pm

Parents have legal control of their children and they can withdraw them from testing if they wish. Any testing - medical, educational, whatever, needs to be appropriate in timing and intent for the person taking the test. Irrespective of the motives of a government in creating tests or how they are used, it behoves parents to research the benefits (or otherwise) of a test for their child. It behoves teachers and principals to make available to parents literature which helps parents make an informed choice re testing. The same can be applied to curricula, school policies and so forth. Unfortunately so many parents have been overawed when young students by "the system" and "authority" that they can be easily intimidated when seeking to positively support their children at school.

Comment by Deb on August 26, 2010 at 11:50pm

Katrina, I am far more concerned about my child's performance rather than how the school is on a whole. I truly believe that most parents think this too.
I think the NAPLAN test would be of great value for Year 1 also, especially for detecting smarter kids that need higher learning.
Our Principal utilised and presented parent's with the NAPLAN results as a measure of our school performance in Literacy and Numeracy, we did well in some area's and declined in other's. No big deal.
Informing parents about improvement strategies is far more important. I can easily decifer the results myself but is more interesting when presented by the Principal.
I do not understand the hype about the creation of league tables. I think parent's are entitled to know as much as possible about schools. Some parent's are kept outside the loop with their child's education. For those parent's that are interested in their child's education educate and inform them rather than witholding information and they will have a better understanding and more respect for teacher's.

Comment by MySchool on August 26, 2010 at 10:56pm

To be accurate, "this site" provides a link to ACARA's site where those claims are made.

Comment by Jean-Michel David on August 26, 2010 at 10:45pm

To claim that there's nothing wrong with NAPLAN (or other standardised) testing per se is simply not looking at its impact on sound pedagogical practice.

But, again, this blog entry was not about that aspect, but pointing out the incorrect claims of ACARA and this site regarding the supposed universality and implied compulsoriness of participation.

Comment by Katrina Smith on August 26, 2010 at 10:11pm

There's nothing wrong with NAPLAN testing per se, however the data and the results are a tool for educators to include in the mix of data that they have at their disposal to improve student outcomes. The problem comes from publishing the results as a stand-alone measure for every Tom, Dick and Harry to draw conclusions and create league tables from.

For a parent to look at the NAPLAN data and get a measure of how their child's school is performing is just silly. There have been many comparisons to try and illustrate the folly of relying on this data so I won't go into them again, but imagine if the Police dept used the number of arrests to show which Police stations had the best Police and you should be able to work out that they would be assessing the performance of one group based on the test results of another. It simply doesn't make sense and is just a political ploy by a delusional Gov't.

A NAPLAN results publication ban is a good idea.

Comment by Jean-Michel David on August 26, 2010 at 10:06pm

'Greens call for NAPLAN ban' - interesting development! :)

Comment by Jean-Michel David on August 26, 2010 at 7:18pm

You're missing the central point, Deb: the site and the publicly available dissemination of supposed information is misinforming parents - ie, it is NOT the case that "all students in 3, 5, 7 and 9" participate, nor is it the case that students have to participate. Rather, parents or carers have the option to withdraw their child from participation.

The other point, as to the standardised tests' claimed merits, are of course dubious... so if there's clear research that shows otherwise, then by all means share this in your blog, or better still, in pedagogical journals.

Comment by Deb on August 26, 2010 at 5:05pm

Who really cares if 10% didn't do the NAPLAN test? I have learnt from teachers that it is fairly comprehensive and a useful tool for future planning. Every two years parents gain a much better picture of how their children are going in English and Maths. Would be fantastic if Science, History and Geography were also included!!!

Comment by Jean-Michel David on August 22, 2010 at 5:25pm

What's even more shocking is that the MySchool website was alerted to this mis-information back in FEBRUARY (I still have the emails exchange), and there has not been any correction.

Comment by Zibbo Madej on August 22, 2010 at 5:01pm

Yes, LMD is right. From http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/schooladmin/forms/naplan/naplan.html:
"•Student Withdrawal Form, NAPLAN Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 Testing 2010 (PDF - 195KB)
For parents wishing to withdraw their child from the NAPLAN tests on grounds other than learning disabilities or learning English in Australia for less than one year."
I am shocked that this is kept secret.

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