NT fails in online testing
Lack of internet access stalls NAPLAN schools program
TERRITORY schools are lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to adopting new NAPLAN online testing, with 30 NT schools set to trial the digital test this year.
The online test was rolled out across the country last year and adopted by hundreds of schools, including all schools in the ACT.
No NT schools, however, sat the test online last year, as geographical remoteness and lack of internet access hampered schools’ ability to sit the test. NAPLAN online is said to provide a much more precise measure of a child’s aptitude using adaptive testing.
For example, in NAPLAN online, students who fly through the test are bumped up to a harder set of questions, while struggling students are redirected to a different set of questions to more accurately gauge what they can and can’t do. NT Department of Education chief executive Vicki Baylis said she wasn’t worried NT students would be left behind as schools across the country migrated to NAPLAN online faster.
“I don’t think it will be a problem, because we’re a small jurisdiction and we’ll be able to go very quickly once we have the capabilities,” Ms Baylis said.
Schools across the Territory are undergoing “readiness testing” in the hope to adopt NAPLAN online by 2020, the last year of the three-year transition phase outlined by the Commonwealth.
But as only 50 per cent of Territory schools have sufficient bandwidth for the online test, Ms Baylis said there was still much work to be done.
“By 2020 all schools should be moving to online as long as the low and no bandwidth solution can be applied,” she said.
Ms Baylis also rejected claims by the Education Union that NAPLAN online would create a severe disadvantage to remote students with unequal access to computer technology. “Our experience from when we’ve done the readiness testing is our kids in very remote and remote settings are much more excited and wired in,” she said.
“Their willingness to have a go and attention to stay on task is often higher.”