Glitch hitch to test

TODAY schools across the region will receive their NAPLAN test results.

The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy, which tests students in Grades 3 and 5, and Years 7 and 9, was established a decade ago as a means of comparing the performance of students of the same age across the country.

This year, for the first time, about half of the schools conducted all of their testing online as part of a wider plan to conduct the entire process online by 2021.

However, a series of glitches on the first day of testing meant many of the students trialling the online format endured delays, shorter sitting times or were forced to resit the test.

The glitches affected different schools in different ways, making it near impossible to be able to identify or quantify the students affected.

Experts have pointed out that it defeats the purpose of standardised testing if the students are not being tested under the same conditions. How reliable are this year’s results, particularly in terms of comparisons with other schools, when a large majority of students were faced with the added stress of technical difficulties or a reduced time frame in which to complete their test?

Moreover, with reports of growing anxiety among children and their parents over NAPLAN results — prompting some parents to buy practise exams and even arrange for specialised tutoring ahead of the annual testing period — the compromised results could cause angst among families who do not understand the purpose of the process.

When families receive their results this week, parents need to remember that the system is designed to test a students’ performance in one particular moment in time and not reflect their education or aptitude across a range of subjects in a whole school year.

It is pointless to compare them with the results of fellow students’ or to rank your child against their classmates, because the experiences of students have been so varied.