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| National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy | |
|---|---|
| Name | National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy |
| Abbreviation | NAPLAN |
| Country | Australia |
| Established | 2008 |
| Administered by | Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority |
| Frequency | Annual |
National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy
The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy is an annual suite of tests for Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 administered by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. It provides comparative data on student achievement across states and territories including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia and informs policy decisions by the Australian Government, state ministers and the Productivity Commission. Major educational stakeholders such as the Australian Education Union, the Australian Senate, the Commonwealth Department of Education and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority engage with its findings.
The program assesses reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy through standardised instruments developed by ACARA in consultation with the Australian Curriculum, state education departments, Catholic Education Commission and independent schooling authorities. Results feed into the MySchool website, the Australian Curriculum documentation and national debates involving figures such as the Prime Minister, state premiers, the Productivity Commission and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Data users include universities such as the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, Monash University and the Australian National University as well as research bodies like the Grattan Institute and the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Origins trace to national reviews and reports including the Rae Report, the Bradley Review and initiatives by the Hawke government and the Keating government aimed at national standards. The program was established amid policy efforts led by ministers such as Julia Gillard and state ministers for education in New South Wales and Victoria, with ACARA formed following processes involving the Council of Australian Governments and the Productivity Commission. Early technical work drew on psychometric expertise from the Australian Council for Educational Research, collaborations with the University of Melbourne, Curtin University, and international comparisons like PISA administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and TIMSS by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.
The framework specifies domains aligned with the Australian Curriculum and content descriptors developed alongside the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Reading items reference text types studied in curricula by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority; writing tasks include narrative, persuasive and expository prompts informed by scholarship from the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland. Language conventions cover grammar and spelling conventions taught in Catholic Education offices and independent schools. Numeracy items draw on mathematical proficiencies articulated by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and researchers at the University of New South Wales and Monash University.
Administration occurs in schools across the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, Tasmania and South Australia during a specified testing window coordinated by state education departments and Catholic Education Commissions. Test delivery has included paper-based formats and a move to online platforms developed with vendors and pilot sites in Queensland and Western Australia; this transition involved technical partnerships with tertiary institutions such as RMIT and Swinburne University and input from digital assessment researchers at Macquarie University. Participation policies have been debated by the Australian Senate Education and Employment References Committee, the Australian Education Union, principals associations and parent groups including the Australian Parents Council.
Scoring uses psychometric scaling and equating methods refined with technical advice from the Australian Council for Educational Research and academia at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Reports include national achievement bands, school-level reports on the MySchool platform, and aggregated statistics employed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and analysts at the Grattan Institute. Policymakers from the Commonwealth Department of Education, state departments, state premiers and the Productivity Commission use results to inform funding models, teacher professional development initiatives, and accountability mechanisms referenced in agreements such as the National Education Reform Agreement.
Criticisms have arisen from academics at the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia, advocates within the Australian Education Union, and parent organisations over high-stakes uses, teaching to the test, and impacts on curriculum breadth. Controversies included debates in the Australian Senate, media coverage by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and policy responses from ministers such as Brendan Nelson and Simon Birmingham. Reforms have included technical adjustments by ACARA, pilot studies supported by the Australian Research Council, and procedural changes prompted by reviews involving the Productivity Commission and state education authorities.
The program has influenced teacher professional learning led by Catholic Education Melbourne, principals’ decisions in New South Wales public schools, curriculum adjustments in the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and funding debates in the Commonwealth Parliament. It has also shaped research agendas at institutions including the University of New South Wales, the Australian National University and Griffith University, informed international benchmarking with PISA and TIMSS, and contributed to public discussion mediated by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and advocacy groups like the Grattan Institute.