NAPLAN results spark further calls for overhaul of student testing system - ABC News

Victoria is leading a push for an overhaul of the NAPLAN system, proposing a job certificate link for disengaged students and a change to the ages of test-takers, to combat flagging results from high school students.

Key points:

The results show there has been little improvement in test scores across the board
Year 9 students were the "most difficult" to engage, according to the Victorian Education Minister
Victoria, NSW and Queensland are running an independent review into NAPLAN

National preliminary figures for the 2019 tests showed while primary school students had small lifts in average scores in some areas, results were stagnant for most categories.

Nationally, Year 7 and 9 students slid backwards on the baseline score in writing and Year 9 students' scores were flat across the board.

The results, released this morning, are further ammunition for critics of the assessment scheme, with three states, including Victoria, already leading a review into the tests.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said Year 9 was "the most difficult" cohort to engage in their education.

"If they don't see the relevance in the test, they're not going to take it seriously," he said.

"And in my view, the Year 9 results we've seen [aren't] reflective of the capability of our students, or of the quality of the teaching in our classrooms."

In a bid to boost engagement, he has proposed linking the tests to a literacy and numeracy certificate for Year 9 students to show would-be employers.

"We need our Year 9 students to think 'OK, this test means something, I'm going to give it my best shot, and I'm going to give it my best shot because I'm going to get a certificate that's going to go into my careers portfolio'," he said.

A newly-established advisory committee of principals from government, independent and Catholic schools will begin assessing the proposal.

States review ages of NAPLAN students

The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy, better known as NAPLAN, is standardised testing taken by students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across the country.

The tests have proved controversial, particularly their move from pen and paper to online, which has seen widespread computer glitches affecting students and concern over the legitimacy of the results.

A classroom of students sit a practice NAPLAN test.

The three largest states — New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria — are running a review of the system, which has been operating in its current form for more than a decade.

Mr Merlino said he had asked the review to consider changing the target students to those in years 4, 6, 8 and 10.

"It makes common sense to me," he said.

Any recommendations made by the states' review would need to be accepted by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

Despite the flagging results for Year 9 students, Victoria's primary schools led the country in seven out of 10 different measures.

Across the country, there was an upturn in all student writing results compared to 2018.

"NAPLAN results for 2019 in writing have shown a pleasing improvement from last year, and it is a trend we would like to see continue, given the decline in recent years across all year levels," ACARA chief executive David de Carvalho said.

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