Earlier NAPLAN tests on the cards

The controversial NAPLAN testing regime isn’t going away anytime soon, but a change is under “active consideration”.

Schoolchildren could soon sit their NAPLAN tests in term one under a plan to get results back to schools faster, with the state’s Education Minister saying the shift was under “active consideration”.

A key criticism of the national testing regime has been the delay in schools accessing even preliminary results to see how their students were performing in key literacy and numeracy areas.

Under the proposed plan, NAPLAN would begin in about week six of the school year with a two week online testing window.

First proposed during last year’s tri-state review conducted into the effectiveness of NAPLAN, Education Minister Grace Grace told The Courier-Mail she backed the move.

“We believe, when we’re all online, if we can get those results to the schools sooner and they can implement the needs of each and every student, we think that’s a good way forward,” she said.

“It’s under active consideration.”

The current aim was for all schools to undertake NAPLAN online next year.

Meanwhile the head of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the statutory body who oversees NAPLAN, confirmed the move was on the table.

Chief executive David de Carvalho said there would be challenges with making the change from the traditional May time frame, to late February or early March, but that ACARA was committed to exploring the feasibility of shifting the test.

“The challenges here would certainly be more logistical than anything else,” he said,

“It would be very valuable – it would allow them (teachers) to make an assessment on whether they should be adjusting their teacher program for the remainder of the year.

“If it could be done, there would be some advantages.”

But Mr de Carvalho said other factors, such as making sure kids were settled into the school year, would also need to be considered.

Under the proposed shift schools could receive their NAPLAN test results in as little as two weeks from the time the assessments took place.

Earlier this week ACARA released the preliminary national results of the standardised tests – three months since the May testing window.