NAP sample assessments

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NAP sample reports

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Key Facts

In 2023, 57% of Year 6 students and 54% of Year 10 students achieved at or above the proficient standard in Science Literacy.
In 2022, 55% of Year 6 students and 46% of Year 10 students achieved at or above the proficient standard in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy.
In 2019, 53% of Year 6 students and 38% of Year 10 students achieved at or above the proficient standard in Civics and Citizenship.

Why does ACARA collect and report data on NAP Sample Assessments?

The NAP Sample Assessments support measurement and reporting on progress towards the achievement of the goals stated in the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration 2019.

Students participating in the NAP sample assessments have the opportunity to engage with state-of-the-art assessment materials delivered online and to become familiar with test-taking in the online environment.

What information is reported?

On a rotating assessment cycle, every three years, samples of Year 6 and Year 10 students from across Australia are tested on their skills and understanding in Science Literacy, Civics and Citizenship, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy.

The national Key Performance Measures (KPMs) for the NAP sample assessments are:
• The proportion of participating students in Years 6 and 10 achieving at or above the proficient standard in Science Literacy (KPM 4a)
• The proportion of participating students in Years 6 and 10 achieving at or above the proficient standard in Civics and Citizenship (KPM 5)
• The proportion of participating students in Years 6 and 10 achieving at or above the proficient standard ICT Literacy (KPM 6).

The proficient standard represents a "challenging but reasonable" expectation of student achievement at that year level.

Notes and caveats

The NAP–Science Literacy 2023 assessment is the second NAP sample assessment to occur since the 2-year pandemic hiatus, following the NAP–ICT Literacy assessment in 2022. It is also the first of the NAP sample assessments to shift to the earlier main study testing window of May, a calendar year shift of 5 months from the previous cycle of the assessment in 2018, which took place in October. For this reason, changes in achievement between 2023 and previous cycles of the assessment need to be interpreted with some caution.
Due to the impacts of COVID-19, the 2020 NAP sample assessment in ICT Literacy was postponed to 2022 and the 2021 NAP sample assessment in Science Literacy was postponed to 2023.
In the 2019 sample assessment in Civics and Citizenship, sample requirements were not achieved in Tasmania (Year 10) and the Northern Territory (Years 6 and Year 10). This may have resulted in a less representative sample and biased results. Therefore, their results should be interpreted with caution.
In 2018, the sample assessment in Science Literacy was extended to Year 10. To accommodate this, proficiency levels were widened and re-labelled. However, as the proficient standard for Year 6 remained unchanged, the proportion of students at or above proficient standard can be compared historically.
As 2018 was the first time Year 10 students were assessed in Science Literacy, some states/territories opted not to report their state/territory separately due to sample size restrictions. Australian results include all states.
For further detail please see the NAP sample assessments website.
This information relates to Part 3 of National Report on Schooling in Australia.

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