Standardised Testing EDET100

Standardised Testing

Harvey Bidmade, Sam Preston, Huy Le, Tom Rodenberg and Brianna-Rose Bezzina

Acknowledgement of Country

I want to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land we meet today, the Peoples of the Kulin Nation. I also pay my respects to their Elders, past, present, and emerging. We also want to start today, guys, to assure you that if you have any questions or queries, feel free to ask throughout the presentation.

Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia

Index

NAPLAN

Acknowledgement of Country

Effects

Funding

Introduction

Advantages

History

References

Activity

Thoughts on NAPLAN

Purpose

Thanks

Education

Education is the process that we all know involves teaching knowledge to others and being able to receive knowledge passed on from someone else. Standardised tests have been placed in our schooling system for over two centuries.

+ info

Standardised testing is, in simple words, a tool used to gather data. They are usually conducted as an exam given to a large group of students, which are scored using a particular scale and testing standards in knowledge and skills. These exams are administered and scored in a consistent manner.

AUTHOR'S NAME

The focus of Standardised Testing

Standardised testing allows for comparisons to be made among a vast range of schools allowing students' achievements to be examined. Standardised testing is enormously valuable. This makes sense when you think closely about it. Is it the best way to assess students' abilities by applying all the extra pressures and stresses to evaluate academic performance?

+ info

+ info

+ info

+ info

Personally

Personally, in year 7, my parents received a phone call from the new school I was starting at, and they were told that I was going to need an aid worker to sit with me in every subject we had. We had been tested as a year level on orientation day, our first day at a new school, and after being graded, my results deemed me extremely low. Mum and dad at the time were shocked as, at primary school, I had been a relatively high achiever.

+ info

I started realising that standardised testing simply does not consider external factors and evaluates a student's performance from just one day. Inaccurate reflections of students' ability could be influenced by a range of external and emotional factors like stress, anxiety, family, and daily pressures.

+ info

Evaluating Standardised Testing

Standardised testing only evaluates the students' performance instead of the overall improvement in personal growth that students develop over time. The success of Australian schools and many around the world depend on their students' specific performance in standardised tests.

+ info

There is no doubt that standardised testing provides a set of established standards that grants teachers the specific guidance to know what and when something needs to be addressed—this results in less wasted instructional time and a simplified time management schedule for students to follow. There is no questioning that these tests can be used in an effective many by educators, students, and parents.

Discussion

What student outcomes will you prioritise when you teach?

History

Around in some shape or form since the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain and AmericaHere in Australia in some capacity since the 1800'sHas had a profound effect on the delivery of education over the course of the preceding centuriesEmbedded a reverence for examination results into our culutre

Testing in Australia

1995

PISA

2000

TIMSS

PIRLS

2001

NAPLAN

2008

Purpose and influence

Used to meet public accountability, demonstrate transperancy and maintain public confidence (Klenowski & Wyatt-Smith, 2012, p. 65) Allows for outside forces to better scrutinize the education system based on results Provides a “birds-eye view of where the system is working, and where additional attention is required” (Turner & Jackson, 2017, para. 9)

Puts pressure on everyone to produce results Takes attention away from hard to measure or immeasurable skills or aspects of learning Aims to promote economical prosperity

+ info

Standardised testing is complex. There are lots of factors that affect each other when dealing with standardised testing.

• Introduced in 2008 as a "continuation of national literacy testing [which] began in 1999" (Harrington, 2008, as cited in Simpson Reeves, 2017).

• For students in years 3. 5. 7 and 9

• 4 focuses; reading, writing, numeracy and spelling and punctuation

• Aims to assess Australian students' levels of literacy and numeracy

• Students are assigned a band for each area, ranging from 1 to 10

NAPLAN testing's purpose is“to identify whether all students have the literacy and numeracy skills and knowledge that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community” (ACARA 2010, as cited in Polesel et al., 2012, p. 6))

NAPLAN BANDS

National Assessment Program. (2016). National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy National Assessment Scale

Benefits/Advantages

Standardised Testing

• Provides a “complete picture of student achievement” (Dowley & Rice, 2022, p. 93)
• Data allows comparisons to be made between different groups e.g. students, schools, sectors, states (Dowley & Rice, 2022, p. 93)
• Different conclusions and the appropriate teaching actions can be implemented
• Creates a general standard for educational outcomes nationally

NAPLAN

• Helps in identifying strengths and weaknesses within teaching programs
• Data can be used to target specific supports and resources to schools that need them most. (Polesel et al., 2012, p. 6)

• Aims to help improve student learning outcomes in relation to literacy and numeracy on a national level

Activity

Practice NAPLAN test1 minute to complete

Thoughts on NAPLAN

Dowley, M., & Rice, S. (2022). Comparing student motivations for and emotional responses to national standardised tests and internal school tests: The devil in the detail.

More statistics on NAPLAN

The Australian Primary Principals Association commisioned a survey to be completed by primary schools across the nation

• 50-70% of parents (depending on their location) have high level of interest in their child's NAPLAN results

• 66% of respondents said that NAPLAN had a negative impact on the wellbeing of students

“There is growing evidence NAPLAN is having a negative impact on schools, students and teachers. NAPLAN and the publishing of results on the My School website has imposed a high stakes dimension to student testing and this has led to increased student anxiety, teaching to the test and a narrowing of the curriculum.” - Director of the Gonski Institute for Education, Professor Adrian Piccoli

• 60% of schools said that they spend less time on non-NAPLAN subjects when NAPLAN tests are near

• 35% of respondents said that there was an increase of stress levels in teachers due to NAPLAN

+ info

Australian Primary Principals Association (Appa, & Firm, R. (2013). Primary principals : perspectives on NAPLAN testing & assessment. Canvass Strategic Opinion Research.

NAPLAN is not a diagnostic test

“NAPLAN will never work as a diagnostic test. A diagnostic test should be administered by the teacher so that they can take action the next day. No national survey can return all of that the next day very easily.” -Dr Peter Hill, CEO of ACARA

Australian CurriculumAssessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). 2009, 2015, 2016. National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy: Achievement in Reading, Persuasive Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy. National Report. Sydney: ACARA. http://www.nap.edu.au/results-and-reports/national-reports

Why are standardised tests important to schools?

AUTHOR'S NAME

+ info

Funding and Costs.

• How should schools be funded?
• Funding based on results but these results can sometimes be unreliable.
• Situation then arises where schools may tank their NAPLAN scores to receive money.
• Teachers that work hard to establish initiatives should not be penalised.
• Schools that provide great support and are therefore widely sought after may be penalised for being too good
• The following scenario becomes possible.

• Irregularity of result collection could mean that students who require funding won’t receive it.
• Is the cost to administer NAPLAN worth it?
• Annually the cost to administer NAPLAN is quoted as over 100 million dollars.
• According to a 2019 OECD study, Australian kids are behind in many aspects of their schooling.
• Australian students are on par with children in the United States and Germany but below students in New Zealand and the UK.

+ info

• NAPLAN is a great method for assessing the quality of the curriculum.
• Learning institutions can analyse data over time to assess progress, discover issues and gaps in specific systems, and devise solutions to remedy those flaws.
• What we do with this data and how we perceive it needs to be looked at further.
• Geoff Masters points out “assessment thinking has changed little over the past 50 years.”

AUTHOR'S NAME

References

- Akkari, A. (2003). What is education's role. Prospects, 33(4), 397-403. - Anderson B. (2010, May 11). Struggling students “exempt” from NAPLAN tests. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-05-11/struggling-students-exempt-from-naplan-tests/430984 - Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). 2009, 2015, 2016. National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy: Achievement in Reading, Persuasive Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy. National Report. Sydney: ACARA. http://www.nap.edu.au/results-and-reports/national-reports - Australian Primary Principals Association (Appa, & Firm, R. (2013). Primary principals : perspectives on NAPLAN testing & assessment. Canvass Strategic Opinion Research. - Boyle, C., & Anderson, J. (2015, August 19). NAPLAN data and school funding: a dangerous link. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/naplan-data-and-school-funding-a-dangerous-link-46021 [Visual]. Clarke, M. (2020). Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report December 2011 - Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government. Department of Education, Skills and Employment. https://www.dese.gov.au/school-funding/resources/review-funding-schooling-final-report-december-2011 - Bagshaw, E. (2016, May 12). NAPLAN 2016: Parent says school asked student to sit out exam. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/education/naplan-2016-parent-says-school-asked-student-to-sit-out-exam-20160512-got9tu.html - Cook, H. (2017, October 26). “I was shocked”: the students pushed out of NAPLAN to boost school results. The Age. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/i-was-shocked-the-students-pushed-out-of-naplan-to-boost-school-results-20171026-gz8sh1.html - Dowley, M., & Rice, S. (2022). Comparing student motivations for and emotional responses to national standardised tests and internal school tests: The devil in the detail. Australian Journal of Education, 000494412110618. https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441211061889 - Elwick, J. (2021). Making a Grade: Victorian Examinations and the Rise of Standardized Testing. University of Toronto Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctv1hggkkb - Finefter-Rosenbluh, I. (2020). From power battles to education theatre: the history of standardised testing. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/from-power-battles-to-education-theatre-the-history-of-standardised-testing-151216 - Frans, N., Post, W. J., Oenema-Mostert, C. E., & Minnaert, A. E. M. G. (2020). Preschool/Kindergarten teachers’ conceptions of standardised testing. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 27(1), 87-108. - Funding, reputation and targets: the discursive logics of high-stakes testing. (2015). Cambridge Journal of Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2014.936826?casa_token=UucGCZpDRZ0AAAAA%3AUu_QCzr9mKMFbp3i2XdgWnwauUa75vEzyr1c0KdfTgReCaHxY4_aDa7zjRIZ5dNI2mE81sOrF0lV4AFunding, reputation and targets: the discursive logics of high-stakes testing. (2015). Cambridge Journal of Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2014.936826?casa_token=UucGCZpDRZ0AAAAA%3AUu_QCzr9mKMFbp3i2XdgWnwauUa75vEzyr1c0KdfTgReCaHxY4_aDa7zjRIZ5dNI2mE81sOrF0lV4A - Jackson, J., & Turner, R. (2017). Evidence-based education needs standardised assessment. Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). https://www.acer.org/au/discover/article/evidence-based-education-needs-standardised-assessment - Klenowski, V., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2012). The impact of high stakes testing: the Australian story. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 19(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2011.592972 - Lamperd, R., & Harris, A. (2010, May 12). Schools ask struggling kids to avoid NAPLAN tests, parents claim Herald Sun. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/schools-can-cheat-naplan-exams/news-story/8160b68c1e79ce869538913e730cdad4

References

-Lehmann, S. (2019). Standardised Test Scores and Educational Achievement in Australia. https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/120102/1/Cornell-Farrow2019_PhD.pdf - Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia. (n.d.). Indigenous Australia [Image]. https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-leads-project-to-update-atlas-of-indigenous-australia. https://www.anu.edu.au/files/styles/anu_full_920_518/public/story/INDIGENOUS%20AUSTRALIA[2].jpg?itok=PATEpgpa - Males, S., Bate, F., & Macnish, J. (2017). The impact of mobile learning on student performance as gauged by standardised test (NAPLAN) scores. Issues in Educational Research, 27(1), 99-114. - Marshall, G., & Bilyk, C. (n.d.). Government senators’ additional and dissenting comments, Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/education_employment_and_workplace_relations/completed_inquiries/2010-13/naplan/report/d01 - NAPLAN test [Photograph]. (n.d.). https://www.acc.edu.au/blog/static/b535293167313ca6fcae4146f01bf9e7/8b36f/naplan-test.jpg. - NAPLAN: Would you pass the test? (2016, August 3). ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-03/naplan-quiz/7684574?nw=0&r=InteractiveNAPLAN: Would you pass the test? (2016, August 3). ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-03/naplan-quiz/7684574?nw=0&r=Interactive - National Assessment Program, [NAP]. (2016). About. https://nap.edu.au/about OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics (2014). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics - National Assessment Program. (2016). National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy National Assessment Scale [Diagram]. https://www.nap.edu.au/results-and-reports/how-to-interpret. -Phelps, R. P. (2008). The role and importance of standardized testing in the world of teaching and training. Nonpartisan Education Review, 4(3), 1-9. - OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics (2014). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academicsOECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics (2014). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics - Polesel, J., Dulfer, N., & Turnbull, M. J. (2012). The experience of education: The impacts of high stakes testing on school students and their families : Literature review. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265752469_The_Experience_of_Education_The_impacts_of_high_stakes_testing_on_school_students_and_their_families_Literature_Review - Reid, A. (2019). PISA doesn’t define education quality, and knee-jerk policy proposals won’t fix whatever is broken. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/pisa-doesnt-define-education-quality-and-knee-jerk-policy-proposals-wont-fix-whatever-is-broken-128389 - Shine, K., & O’Donoghue, T. (2013). Teacher representation in news reporting on standardised testing: A case study from Western Australia. Educational Studies, 39(4), 385-398. - Simpson Reeves, S. D. (2017). High-Stakes Behaviours: A Case Study of Teacher Perceptions of Standardised Testing in Secondary Schools [Master's thesis]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108953/1/Samuel_Simpson%20Reeves_Thesis.pdf

References

-Timms, M. J., Moyle, K., Weldon, P. R., & Mitchell, P. (2018). Challenges in STEM learning in Australian schools: Literature and policy review. Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). https://research.acer.edu.au/policy_analysis_misc/28 - UNSW. (2019, March 21). Gonski Institute for Education calls for scrapping of NAPLAN. UNSW Newsroom. https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/gonski-institute-education-calls-scrapping-naplan- Who pays for standardised testing? A cost-benefit study of mandated testing in three Queensland secondary schools. (2016). Journal of Education Policy. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2015.1070206?casa_token=Il3WVq7hB00AAAAA%3A1mDrUg5honthNwcsz-5W2TLSWyQORJcN9z7z8jJ5QnQI0ONYco9Oh21hcxQ10OorYvojGTOM-FvaWQ - Who pays for standardised testing? A cost-benefit study of mandated testing in three Queensland secondary schools. (2016). Journal of Education Policy. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2015.1070206?casa_token=Il3WVq7hB00AAAAA%3A1mDrUg5honthNwcsz-5W2TLSWyQORJcN9z7z8jJ5QnQI0ONYco9Oh21hcxQ10OorYvojGTOM-FvaWQ

Thank you for listening to our presentation!