Wednesday 29th April 2015 Computers will mark the written component of Australian NAPLAN exams from 2017 under plans from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). ACARA’s general manager, Stanley Rabinowitz, said he was “very confident” that the auto-scoring method would work when introduced in 2017. Schools with low Internet connectivity will be able to download the tests securely beforehand to avoid overloading broadband connections. USBs could also be delivered to remote … Read More
NAPLAN 2015 – change to writing test
Friday 13th February 2015 The writing component of this year’s NAPLAN test will be split for the first time between primary and high school students as a result of a controversial question last year. The old model of a single prompt across all age brackets will be replaced with one for year 3 and 5 students, and a separate one for … Read More
NAPLAN test too confusing for students
Monday 18th August 2014 The NAPLAN writing test was so hard this year that students’ marks have slipped across the country and in NSW there has been a “substantial increase” in the number of students who will receive zero because the question was too confusing. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which runs NAPLAN, is investigating problems with … Read More
NAPLAN online – is everybody ready?
Tuesday 29th April 2014 The Australian Government is planning to conduct NAPLAN online from 2016. While the Government is to be commended on the move to take advantage of the efficiencies and the opportunities opened by going digital and online, will all parties critical to the success of conducting NAPLAN online be ready for a 2016 test? Will all Australia’s … Read More
Finnish Lessons
Some holiday reading….. “Education policies in Finland concentrate more on school effectiveness than on teacher effectiveness. “This indicates that what schools are expected to do is an effort of everyone in a school, working together, rather than teachers working individually. “In many under-performing nations, I notice, three fallacies of teacher effectiveness prevail….” Read more at The Washington Post >>>
Basic Skills or Soft Skills?
Is creative brain power more valuable than formal education? Google’s Brin, Page, and Schmidt seem to belong to a school of thought similar to that of Papert, Minsky, Negroponte, and even Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and “learning to learn is more important than memorising information.” Read more at the Huffington Post >>>
My School should be scrapped, says Piccoli
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli wants the controversial My School website scrapped, arguing it is a waste of money that could be better spent on improving teacher quality. Mr Piccoli said the publishing of NAPLAN results on My School was directly responsible for putting students under unnecessary and inappropriate stress. Mr Piccoli said it was the publication of the results, … Read More