As students across the State undertake their NAPLAN tests, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) is implementing changes to make it easier for parents and carers to understand the results.
Wishing more than 300,000 Victorian students’ good luck, Minister for Education, Natalie Hutchins said the tests had been moved forward to March to enable the crucial data to be used to support students and target assistance earlier in the year.
“New proficiency standards with four levels of achievement will replace the previous 10-band structure and the old national minimum standard set in 2008 when tests were on paper,” Ms Hutchins said.
“Each child’s NAPLAN report will show how they’re tracking against their peers using four easy-to-understand standards: exceeding, strong, developing and needs additional support,” she said.
“The proficiency standards will give a more meaningful measure of how students are progressing at time of testing and will make it easier to identify and support students who may be falling behind.”
Ms Hutchins said reports to parents and carers would make it clear whether their child’s skills were at the level they needed to be for the child to get the best out of their schooling.
She said the test was being conducted fully online this year, with the exception of the Year 3 writing test.
“The changes to NAPLAN reporting and timing will provide more informative and useful information to schools, parents and carers,” the Minister said.
“NAPLAN will continue to measure student achievement in numeracy, reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation,” she said.
