Minister wants Naplan data accuracy put to test

QUEENSLAND Education Minister Grace Grace has called on the new Prime Minister to establish a sweeping review into NAPLAN, amid ongoing issues with comparing online and paper-based test results.

QUEENSLAND Education Minister Grace Grace has called on the new Prime Minister to establish a sweeping review into NAPLAN, amid ongoing issues with comparing online and paper-based test results.

Ms Grace’s demands come as the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which administers NAPLAN, conceded Year 9 children who sat the controversial NAPLAN Online writing test this year performed noticeably better than children who sat the pencil and paper based test.

ACARA chief executive Robert Randall said the better marks posted by those who took the writing test via computer was likely due to the ability of teenagers to go back and readily edit their work.

But Dr Randall said a panel of experts had nonetheless determined that the 2018 NAPLAN Online results could be compared to paper-based tests across all other testing areas, and schools and parents should have faith in the data.

However, Ms Grace maintained that the move to NAPLAN Online needed to be examined as a part of a sweeping review into NAPLAN carried out at a national level.

She seized on the federal leadership change to escalate her calls for a root and branch examination of NAPLAN.

“Our new Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised to do things differently – so I’d suggest he starts by asking his new education minister to commission a national NAPLAN review,” she said.

This year, about 200,000 children – or 20 per cent of the national testing cohort – sat NAPLAN Online, however, the proportion was much smaller in Queensland with only 83 schools, including 18 state schools, undertaking the test on computer. All schools are expected to transition to NAPLAN Online by 2020.