April 2019 

National Report on Schooling data portal: data updated

ACARA’s interactive resource, the National Report on Schooling data portal, has  been updated with new data on schools and schooling, including:

• updates to the 2018 school key performance measures 
• counts of schools, students and staff for 2018 and other results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Schools Australia 2018 publication
• school enrolment and retention rates
• school finance data.   

The tailored test design of NAPLAN Online

NAPLAN Online uses a tailored test design, which adapts to student responses in real time and presents students with questions that are more or less difficult based on a student’s test performance.

The adaptive nature of the tests means students are more likely to stay engaged with the tests as they receive questions better suited to their ability, allowing children to show what they can do rather than just what they can’t. Feedback from schools that took NAPLAN Online in 2018 confirmed students find the online assessment engaging.

Students who find questions difficult early in the test are given some questions of lower complexity, more suited to their performance. These students are less likely to become discouraged as they progress through the tests. High-achieving students are given questions they will find more challenging.

A student’s NAPLAN result is based on both the number and difficulty of questions the student answers correctly. A student who completes a more complex pathway is more likely to achieve a higher result (and a higher band placement) than a student who answers the same number of questions correctly but follows a less complex pathway.  

Watch our video about tailored testing.

Read a new Parent Update

Read the April issue of Parent Update, ACARA's e-newsletter that brings national education news about NAPLAN, My School and the Australian Curriculum to parents.