Students sat their first NAPLAN test on Tuesday, but this time not a pen or paper was in sight.
This week more than one million Australian students in years three, five, seven and nine will sit the annual literacy and numeracy tests online for the first time.
Suited to abilities
"NAPLAN online is a better, more precise assessment that is more engaging for students," Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority CEO David de Carvalho said.
"The tailored testing means students are given questions that are better suited to their abilities, so they can show what they know and can do.
"NAPLAN online also has a variety of accessibility adjustments, so that students with diverse capabilities, learning needs and functional abilities are able to participate."
St James' Primary School principal Jennifer Edstein-Boyes said the first online NAPLAN test proved to be a success because it was tailored to a student's abilities, determined from their first answers.
"It is different but it is better for the children in that they are not suddenly going to fail, they are going to get questions tailored to their ability so they can keep answering and still show more of what they can do rather than just what they don't know," she said.
"The students can't see what the others are doing or compare themselves. On a paper test they can see that one student only got to the second page, but on the screen it all looks the same."
Getting used to online testing
The school held practice sessions leading up to the first NAPLAN test so students could get comfortable with the online system.
Schools who experienced Wi-Fi issues while sitting the test will be given a two week period for it to be resat.
St James' Primary School year five student Isaac Dean completed his first NAPLAN writing test on Tuesday, after NAPLAN was cancelled in 2020 when he was in year three.
This week his year five class will also sit three online tests in reading, language conventions and numeracy.
"It is hard to do maths on the computer because you can scribble things down on paper, but on the computer I have to find the plus sign and press shift so it takes me a lot longer," said Isaac.
"But with English I think I am faster at typing than I am writing and when you get experience it becomes easier."
For year five student Jemima Kelly her first NAPLAN test was a breeze.
"It was a bit boring but it was pretty easy. I wrote a story about bullies," she said.
Year five student Bella Antcliff felt the same, despite her initial nerves.
"It went pretty good. I like writing and I got to write a story about Greek mythology but maths is coming up and I think I'm pretty good at it but I don't like it one bit," she said.
"I can type pretty quickly but I can write faster than I can type and in maths you have to press more buttons so it takes longer than writing it."
What the results will show
Ms Edstein-Boyes said this years results will also show the impact the pandemic had on students in the last two years.
"They won't be able to compare year five results to year three because it was cancelled. We have expected growths for children so they won't be able to look back at that, but teachers have kept assessments and they know where their children are so it is not like all is lost," she said.
"These year five students haven't done it before but kids are pretty resilient and if you explain what it is about they are ready to go."
This year also marks the last year the test will be held in May, with hopes the earlier date will allow schools to better tailor their teaching and learning programs earlier in the year depending on the results.
