First March NAPLAN looms as Newcastle principal says testing should not be cause for concern or worry

The testing window for the national literacy and numeracy assessment of those in Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 9 opens from today until March 27.

Lisa Matzanke, acting principal at St Columba's Primary School in Adamstown, told the Newcastle Herald yesterday that NAPLAN helped schools get a snapshot of "areas where we can celebrate our successes and areas where we can look for improvement".

She said it was an important tool but results of an individual year should not be considered in isolation - it is about tracking growth or lack thereof so measures can be put in place to help students improve.

"Sometimes if a child has done NAPLAN in Year 3 and Year 5 and the parent sees in Year 5 that they're really low, they might be disheartened by that," Ms Matzanke said.

"But if you can see they're low but they've had significant growth since Year 3, that is a cause for celebration."

More than one million young people will take part in the process, which has been moved from May to March this year.

"I'm intrigued to see if the questions have changed and if it's more content from Stage Two - which is Year 3 and Year 4 - or if it's still Stage Three content, which is Year 5," Ms Matzanke said.

"If it's Stage Three content, that will be more challenging for the kids to answer.

"But from a school point of view it is more beneficial to have it earlier because we'll get that data earlier and be able to make use of it earlier rather than later.

"NAPLAN shouldn't be a stressful experience. It's one test on one day and it is helpful and it does give us insight but it's nothing that should be causing students or parents any stress or any worry."

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority CEO David de Carvalho said bringing NAPLAN forward was aimed at giving teachers earlier insights about students.

"It doesn't measure overall school quality. It's not meant to tell us everything about a student or their achievement," he said.

"NAPLAN tests literacy and numeracy skills that are being developed in the classroom every day with questions based mostly on what students have been taught from previous years of schooling.

"There is no need for students to undertake extra practice for NAPLAN and they should not feel apprehensive about the assessment."

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