NAPLAN - by Zoe Close and Emily Clarke
NAPLAN has finally returned to TMC and everyone has been busy preparing for and participating in tests. Years 5, 7 and 9 completed all of the tests online, with the year 3s handwriting the Writing Exam. NAPLAN is a government initiative that administers a series of tests to students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 nationally. The purpose of Naplan is to determine each student's progress in literacy and numeracy skills compared to other students in their age group. When comparing Tamborine Mountain College to the rest of the state, it was found that TMC is above the state average in most areas across all year levels. Since NAPLAN is designed as a diagnostic test, when the results are returned it gives a point in time snapshot of students' learning. Generally the results are very similar to the results found through regular subject assessment, but if there is a surprise result, it can be useful to look into.
This year, 2021, was the first time naplan was done online which gave students a longer period of time to finish, but still containing the same content. The only exception was for year 3 students who completed the tests by hand, as it was assumed to be faster. Due to the tests being online, our Head of Primary Mr Stevens has overseen all the tests with every test for every student having unique passwords and codes. Mr Haskins and Mrs Garner were also test administrators, who made sure that everything went according to plan.
When asked Mrs Garner said that she values NAPLAN because of her experiences in England where the testing was rigorous and was used to see student progress, while feeling that NAPLAN was beneficial for students to check on their progress against the criteria, and explaining how you need maths and english for any job. Mrs Garner explained how NAPLAN was stressful in the beginning since the students had no experience with the online method and how it was very reliant on technology which was very nerve racking, especially with headphones since students could listen to a prompt online. She later felt that when the tests started she could breathe again. Lastly she commented on how the students have been fantastic and were less stressed since they were able to use laptops and websites.
NAPLAN isn’t only a big process for the students but for teachers as well. Just for this year Mr Stevens had to go to two development days and help teachers in online workshops. So while we are all extremely proud of our students, our teachers deserve a big thank you and a round of applause for navigating these new situations.