NAPLAN Online tests general information

Federal, state and territory education ministers have agreed that NAPLAN will move online over a two-to-three year period. In Queensland, the transition to NAPLAN Online will be achieved through a staged delivery.

Format of the online tests

For all eligible year levels (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9) there will be 4 tests: writing, reading, conventions of language, and numeracy.

For Years 7 and 9, the numeracy test will include a non-calculator section and a calculator-allowed section.

For the writing test, students will be given a stimulus and asked to write a response to the task. The genre will be the same for all NAPLAN writing tasks.

All other online tests will use a range of response formats such as:

• multiple choice (select a button or an image on the screen to indicate the answer)
• drag and drop (select an object or word and drag it to the correct place on the screen)
• constructed response (type the answer in a box on the screen).

Benefits of the online tests

Moving to an online testing environment offers many benefits, including:

• introducing ‘tailored testing’, which gives students questions better suited to their ability, resulting in more precise results
• improving student engagement through computer-based tests
• reducing the time it takes to provide feedback to schools, students and parents.

Preparation for the online tests

Both paper-based NAPLAN and NAPLAN Online will test the full range of skills in literacy and numeracy taught through curriculum content. Teachers should familiarise students with the test platform and online question formats but avoid over-rehearsing.

Sample online mini-tests for writing, reading, conventions of language and numeracy for each NAPLAN test year level are available on the NAPLAN Online public demonstration website. These mini-tests contain example questions that show the types of technology-enhanced features used in NAPLAN Online, such as interactive navigation and features such as drag and drop. The site will not record or store responses or generate assessment reports because the main purpose of the demonstration tests is to familiarise students, teachers and parents with NAPLAN Online item types and functionalities.

The QCAA also provides a range of online resources including practice questions and resources to support general literacy and numeracy skills development:

• writing
• reading
• language conventions
• numeracy.

Test marking

Initially, it is planned that all of the NAPLAN Online writing tasks will be double scored, that is, marked by both human markers and by automated essay scoring.

The NAPLAN Online tests for reading, conventions of language and numeracy will be automatically marked in the NAPLAN Online platform once the test session is finalised by the test administrator.

It is anticipated that the automated marking of students’ tests in NAPLAN Online will enable students’ results to be provided faster to schools, students, parents and caregivers.

Finding out more

Further information about automated essay scoring can be found on the NAPLAN website. Here you can read their 2015 research report An evaluation of automated scoring of NAPLAN persuasive writing, or view an infographic (PDF, 1.26 MB) that illustrates the automated essay scoring research.

Test reporting

Principals of NAPLAN Online schools will be able to access their School and Student Summary Report (SSSR) in the online platform. The SSSR contains data similar to the raw data provided through the QCAA’s NAPLAN portal for paper-based tests.

For parents/carers, an Individual student report will be printed for students who participated in NAPLAN Online and these will be sent directly to the school for distribution.

More information about the online tests for parents and schools is available on the ACARA NAPLAN Online website.