Adjustments are available for students with disability (or chronic medical condition), to enable them to access NAPLAN on an equivalent basis as other students.
Not all students with disability or medical conditions will require adjustments to access NAPLAN .
Adjustments should be considered on a case-by-case basis following consultation with school staff and parents/carers as early as possible. Some adjustments require approval by the QCAA to ensure alignment with the test protocols, or to ensure adequate time for the preparation and delivery of alternative format materials.
The following information comes from Section 6 of the Handbook for principals (PDF, 2.0 MB):
- Disability adjustments are intended to be applied only to students with disability.
- Adjustments are intended to enable access to the tests for students who will not be able to participate in NAPLAN on an equivalent basis as students without disability.
- Adjustments should reflect the kind of support and assistance provided for assessment in the classroom.
- Adjustments that are appropriate in a learning environment may not be appropriate in an assessment environment.
- Adjustments should not compromise the ability to assess the core skills that are the objects of the assessments.
Test construct
Adjustments are not appropriate if they compromise the tests’ ability to assess the following underlying skills that are the object of the assessments.
The NAPLAN Reading test assesses the ability of students to independently make meaning from written Standard Australian English texts, including those with some visual elements. Therefore, reading stimulus materials and/or questions aloud to a student during the Reading test is not an appropriate or permitted adjustment.
The NAPLAN Writing test assesses the ability of students to convey thoughts, ideas and information through the independent construction of a written text in Standard Australian English.
The NAPLAN Language conventions test assesses the ability of students to independently recognise and use correct Standard Australian English grammar, punctuation and spelling in written contexts. Therefore, reading questions aloud to a student during the Language conventions test is not an appropriate or permitted adjustment.
The NAPLAN Numeracy test assesses students’ knowledge of mathematics, their ability to apply that knowledge in context independently, and their ability to independently reason mathematically. Therefore, explaining questions to a student or interpreting diagrams for a student during the Numeracy test is not an appropriate or permitted adjustment. Reading any words, numbers or symbols embedded within text is permitted, but not for any numbers or symbols that are not embedded within the text.
More information
For more information about disability adjustments and participation in NAPLAN tests for parents and carers, see:
