Education
GRADE 3 NAPLAN WHAT IS IT?
EDUCATION IN BRISBANE
NAPLAN can be described as
How Schools use NAPLAN
How parents can help
“a measure through which governments, education authorities, schools, teachers and parents can determine whether or not young Australians are meeting important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.”
At St Paul’s School we use NAPLAN information to help refine our practice and identify individual needs. We adjust programs to cater for areas that need prioritising and develop individual programs that will support the needs of students.
(www.nap.edu.au)
We do not plan our curriculum with the NAPLAN assessment in mind. We do however, teach our students test ‘wiseness’. We believe the best way to develop and support students’ literacy and numeracy skills is to give them a rich curriculum focussing on reading and writing and using mathematics in a variety of ways. This will enable them to build the skills that are required for NAPLAN, but more importantly as a basis for further learning. Students need enough practice with tests to ensure they are familiar with the form of testing. Beyond that, test practice is a waste of time.
• Keep routines – make sure children get plenty of sleep and a good breakfast on the day of the testing. • Teach helpful thinking – encourage them to believe they can do it. Help them to say ‘I’ll give it a go”. • Clear expectations – talk through what will happen, how long they will work for, and that they will get a break. • Encourage confidence – for example, encourage them to look through the paper and complete the questions they know they can answer first. • Discuss feelings – encourage the children to discuss how they feel. Listen with empathy so they feel understood and know their feelings are normal. • Most of all have a positive parent attitude that shows you believe in your child – children take their cues from the adults around them.
It is a national assessment program conducted annually in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. All students across the nation in these year levels participate in tests in reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy. These tests provide parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at a point in time. Schools also are able to evaluate how their educational programs are working and then able to make decisions on what areas need improvement and priority.
A Catholic Girls' Secondary College
Brigidine College Indooroopilly
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(07) 3870 7225 www.brigidine.qld.edu.au 26
Your Local Families Magazine – Brisbane Issue 8 - February/March 2015