National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy
Sign announcing tests, Greenbank State School, 2014
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| Acronym | NAPLAN |
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| Type | Standardised test |
| Developer / administrator | Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority |
| Knowledge / skills tested | Numeracy, literacy |
| Purpose | To provide a snapshot of a student's current reading, writing, language and numeracy skills |
| Offered | Once a year |
| Countries / regions | Australia |
| Languages | English |
| Scores / grades used by | Schools (grades 3, 5, 7 and 9) |
| Website | www |
 What is NAPLAN
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Why NAPLAN is valuable
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The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a series of tests focused on basic skills that are administered annually to Australian students. These standardised tests assess students' reading, writing, language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy and are administered by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The National Assessment Program is overseen by the Council of Australian Governments Education Council.
NAPLAN was introduced in 2008. ACARA has managed the tests from 2010 onwards. The tests are designed to determine if Australian students are achieving outcomes. There has been a great deal of contention in the educational community as to whether the tests are appropriate, whether teachers are teaching as they normally would or teaching to the test, and what the results of the test are being used for. The data obtained from the NAPLAN tests are collated and used to show all schools' average performance against other schools in the country on the Government My School website.
The tests are also designed to be carried out on the same days all across Australia in any given year. Parents are able to decide whether their children take the test or not. The vast majority of Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students participate.
Prior to the introduction of NAPLAN the testing of literacy and numeracy was done individually by each jurisdiction. According to New South Wales Public Schools the NAPLAN tests, which commenced in 2008, were instigated after the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) determined that "national testing in literacy and numeracy would proceed for the full cohort of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 from 2008 onward". The NAPLAN tests would be used to determine if students were performing either above, at or below the National Minimum Standard in the areas of reading, language conventions, writing and numeracy skills for their particular year level. The emergence of a national schooling system in Australia is part of a shift towards making educational policy part of national economic policy in response to globalization.
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