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2017 Year 9 NAPLAN Tests and the New HSC Minimum Standards

4 Apr 2017

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/busting-some-of-the-hsc-literacy-and-numeracy-myths-20170329-gv9832.html

With the 2017 NAPLAN tests due to take place early next term (between 9 and 11 May) there has been a great deal of focus in recent weeks on the decision by NESA and the state government in 2016 to set new minimum standards of literacy and numeracy for HSC certification. The two sound like separate issues; however, back in 2016 it was announced that students who achieved Band 8 results in their Year 9 NAPLAN tests would be considered to have achieved the new minimum standard. Very little mention was made at the time of how students who did not achieve this level of results would go on to meet these minimum standards.

Hence, the CEO of NESA has been active in the last few weeks in assuring parents and students that there is a system in place for any students who do not achieve a Band 8 result. Mr de Carvalho’s makes the central point:

Please be assured that any Year 9 students who do not achieve a Band 8 result will be able to start their HSC courses in Year 11. In fact, they will be given several opportunities to meet the new minimum standards in online tests during Years 10, 11 and 12.

The new system looks like this:
– NAPLAN: Year 9 students can ‘pre-qualify’ (NESA’s phrase) for the minimum standards by gaining a Band 8 result or higher.
– Online Test: for students who have not ‘pre-qualified’ there will be online tests in each term from Year 10 onwards.
– There will be four testing periods and students can sit these twice a year
– Students will only need to sit the online tests for those skills which they did not pre-qualify. Therefore, if a student achieved a Band 8 result in Numeracy and Reading, they would only need to sit an online test in Writing.

Please explain this to your Year 9 child. NAPLAN may well be stressful enough for them without the unwarranted fear of missing out on an HSC if they feel they fall below a Band 8 at the age of 14 or 15.

Their futures should not and will not be determined by their Year 9 NAPLAN results.

Mr Philip Fielden, Director of Studies. This article was also published in the School’s newsletter on Wednesday, 5 April.