NAPLAN numbers up

IT’S shaping up to be our biggest NAPLAN year ever, with about 255,000 Queensland students this week expected to sit the three-day tests.

The increase in numbers is due in part to a combination of Queensland’s first full prep intake now reaching Year 9 and parents and schools coming around to the value of the national exams. In the past, Queensland had comparatively high numbers of students opting out of NAPLAN.

Figures for how many students will sit out NAPLAN this year are not yet available, but the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority estimated that about 20,000 more than in 2016 would participate in the numeracy and literacy testing across Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

P&Cs Queensland president Gayle Walters said while there were still pockets of NAPLAN resistance, more schools and parents were supportive.

Schools get provisional data for checking by July and QCAA releases the full reports in mid-August.