There’s a secret to scoring top marks in NAPLAN writing. And it’s easily missed by students

John Colet school in Belrose, a private primary school on the northern beaches, has recorded some of the best writing scores in the state for NAPLAN, but principal Julian Wilcock said teachers and ...
The Guardian

Naplan's writing tasks are crude and arbitrary. As teachers we feel voiceless

Naplan’s emphasis on writing mechanics over meaning is misguided. The implications for the classroom are concerning With Naplan examinations imminent, anxieties high and results down, it is fair to ...
Sydney Morning Herald

The crisis that NAPLAN is writing into our classrooms

In a troubled education era when consideration has been given to letting machines mark school students’ creative and narrative writing pieces, it is small wonder that we now have newspaper headlines ...
The Daily Telegraph

NAPLAN writing exams reveal 20 per cent of Year 9 students failed

A SHOCKING number of Year 9 students in NSW have failed this year’s NAPLAN writing test, continuing an alarming slide in literacy skills that has experts calling for urgent reforms in the classroom. A ...
The Conversation

Too many adjectives, not enough ideas: how NAPLAN forces us to teach bad writing

A report of a review of NAPLAN released in recent days cited the writing part of the test to be the most problematic. The report noted the NAPLAN […] has led to formulaic writing in students’ ...
The Conversation

NAPLAN writing tests hinder creativity, so what could we use in their place?

NAPLAN testing starts this week. With calls for a review, many education experts are calling the Future of NAPLAN into question. In this series, the experts look at options for removing, replacing, ...
The Australian

NAPLAN writing skills in reverse, no improvement in 12 test areas

Preliminary data from the latest National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy, known as NAPLAN, has revealed some areas of improvement, such as in Years 5 and 9 numeracy and primary-level ...
The Courier-Mail

Is NAPLAN turning our kids into bad writers?

In his scathing review of the test, retired MIT Professor Les Perelman says the marking criteria is "bizarre" and prioritises high level vocabulary words instead of the formulation and structuring of ...
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

NAPLAN results show no overall decline in learning, but 2 per cent drop in participation levels an 'issue of concern'

Almost 15 per cent of Australian year 9 boys don't meet the national minimum achievement standard for reading — the highest proportion ever, according to the latest national NAPLAN test results.
Couriermail

NAPLAN results show decline in writing skills

Simon Birmingham says he will hold talks with his state and territory counterparts to discuss how to turn the worrying trend around following concerning results from NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests ...
The Australian

NAPLAN writing tests to be co-marked by computers and people

About 10 per cent of students, or 100,000 children across Australia, will ditch pen and paper testing to take part in the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy over a secure online ...