Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

Assessment Task Two

Standardised testing in educational systems across the world are becoming more frequently

used to determine their international standing among each other. In Australia the National

Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN, 2013) assess all Australian

students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The aim of the test results show what schools perform best

and worst in these curriculum areas to indicates how Australia compares on an international

level. While these national statistics are released there is a more underlying effect of the

NAPLAN tests which this essay will examine including the debate of whether they are high-

stake tests, how it can effect teachers pedagogy and can make a narrow curriculum .The

Conversation is an online academic site which identifies and analyses current issues from a

wide range of topics including education. Two of the articles that will be analysed discuss

opposing views, one debates that NAPLAN testing isnt a high stake test (McGaw, 2015),

while the other article indicates it is high stakes that has effects on teacher pedagogy and

creates a narrow minded curriculum (Dulfer, 2012). The third source which is a peer-

reviewed journal article that will be analysed supports Dulfers argument that high stakes

testing has impacts on the curriculum and pedagogy (Polesel, & Rice 2014). As this source is

a peer-reviewed journal that has to be supported by evidence it gives it the higher

credibility in comparison to the articles on the Conversation website although these articles

use evidence to support their claims. While some of these articles have opposing views they

can be drawn upon when identifying implications for teaching and the educational

profession. This paper will discuss some of the implications these articles may uncover

including the effects on pedagogy, the implications on the curriculum and weight in on the

argument if NAPLAN is high or low stake testing.

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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

Every school in Australia participates in the NAPLAN tests and has been a part of the school

calendar since the introduction of the Gonski report (Gonski,2008). These tests are made up

of four domains including reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy. These tests

have come under huge scrutiny since their introduction into the school calendar for multiple

reasons. High stakes tests is defined as test that are used to determine punishment such as

negative publicity or accolades including positive publicity (Sutton,2009). This paper works

around this definition as NAPLAN scores are highly publicised and have negative or positive

outcomes on teachers and principals. The negative effects have been suggested to force

educators to teach to the test and promotes a narrow curriculum (Hidden Curriculum,

2014). This paper will discuss whether NAPLAN testing is high-stakes and it will debate

whether these negative effects are an outcome of NAPLAN testing.

The media article on The Conversation website titled testing the test: NAPLAN makes for

stressed kids and a narrow curriculum by Nicky Dulfer (2012), considers that teachers are

teaching for the NAPAN tests resulting in a narrow curriculum. The article also considers

that the high stake tests are causing health problems for students. Dulfer is a lecturer within

the education policy and leadership unit at the University of Melbourne who offers a

teachers perspective on NAPLAN and its effects. Dulfers main argument is unintended

consequences from NAPLAN, particularly on how the curriculum is taught, student health

and school reputation. In putting forward her argument she relies on the release of her own

study titled An Educators Perspective which surveyed around 8300 teachers (Wyn at el,

2014). The article doesnt give a direct link to the study making it difficult for the reader to

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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

evaluate Dulfers claims but this could be due to having a more general audience opposed to

her peer reviewed study for an academic audience. Her argument raises the large questions

of the effectiveness of the NAPLAN testing and what teacher think of the use of NAPLAN.

The main argument is how teachers teach according to what the NAPLAN test evaluate

making the curriculum narrow minded and moves away from subjects like history,

geography, physical education and other visual arts topics. Dulfer states other curriculum

areas are seen as not important because they are not tested. To make this argument more

transparent she could have included quotes by the teachers in the study which help show

that other curriculum areas are losing their importance. This could be further supported by

showing a national decline in results in these subject areas due to the increase of

importance on numeracy and literacy. Dulfers argument is convincing by the sheer number

of teachers survey in the study and is the first of its kind, although it would be better if she

had given a direct hyperlink to the study to help support her claims as it makes it difficult for

the reader to evaluate her claims (Ullman, 2015). She suggests at the end of her article that

NAPLAN needs to be de-emphasised to brand the tests as low stake tests. She quotes

information which can be found on page 8 of the study paper to help show that the NAPLAN

tests are considered high stake tests to students (Wyn at el, 2014). She reports that a

significant number of students reported that students feel stressed, sick and have sleepless

nights due to the tests. She reinforces that these emotions are due to the high stakes test by

citing research work from Flores and Clark (2003). To further improve her suggestion of de-

emphasising NAPLAN tests she could citing literature that explains the benefits of using low

stake tests and ensuring that they still give an accurate result of students ability.

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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

The second media article from The Conversations website titled NAPLAN MYTHS: Its not a

high-stakes test by Barry McGaw (2012) has the complete opposite view to the previously

mention article. This article investigates Dulfers claims that NAPLAN tests are high stakes,

narrows the Australian curriculum and provides an insight into how NAPLAN opinions are

wrong and in fact is a useful tool. Professor Barry McGaw is a part-time Vice-Chancellors

fellow at the University of Melbourne and Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment

and Reporting Authority. He gives a perspective from the ACARA government body which

run the National Assessment Program (ACARA, 2013). His main argument in the article is a

reply to the claims that NAPLAN has been labelled a high stakes program that is causing

unnecessary stress among students and distorting the school curriculum across Australia. He

debates against these claims trying to show that these tests are blown out of proportion

and the media are to blame for the anxiety felt from the students. In putting forward his

argument McGaw fails to draw upon any recent research or statistics to help support his

claims against the first article. There is no hyperlink to any reinforcing evidence that

supports his claims and the only source he draws upon is a study from 1989 about the New

South Wales state wide Basic Skills Testing Program. The fact that McGaw puts reference

too such an old study is a big concern when trying to unfold his case when labelling the

NAPLAN test as a low-stake test. McGaws statement of the 1989 basic skills testing program

being labelled a low-stake test is contradicted in an article by the NSW Department of

Education and training (Wasson, 2009). His claims of this are very unreliable as he had no

contribution to the implementation of the NSW basic skills testing program in NSW. McGaw

claims that the NAPLAN tests are a large misconception by teachers, parents and students.

He reinforces this statement by indicating that the tests are aimed at collecting school

results rather than individually results. Cizek stated that tests are incapable of providing
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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

high-quality information for instructional purposes and doubts if relative group

performances have anything meaningful to contribute at a school level (2005). This

statement challenged McGaws idea that NAPLAN should be used to investigate school

results as according to Cizek having a collective result of a school doesnt have a meaningful

contributing to the school. The context of this media publication can also be questioned due

to McGaws political stance on the educational issue. As McGaw is a chairmen of the ACARA

and is involved in the policy making of the NAPLAN testing it is easy to see why he would

take positive stance when debating these issues. The ACARA is the national wide authority

who are responsible for national assessment, curriculum and publishing these results.

McGaws argument wold be more convincing if he has provided evidence from studies that

helped support his argument. Having a lack of evidence and finding small contradictions to

his claims from outside literature could result in a misleading article. Also finding

independent sources that support his claims would be essential as his claims can be seen as

biased due to his political stance.

The third article to weigh in on the argument between Dulfer and McGaw is a peer reviewed

journal article published by Polesel and Rice titled The impact of High-Stakes Testing on

Curriculum and Pedagogy: A teacher perspective from Australia (2013). Polesel and Rice

are academics at the University of Melbourne who give an evidence based approach in their

peer-reviewed journal. Both have made considerable amounts of publications in the field of

education. Their main argument is NAPLAN is a high stakes testing program which has had

an impact on teacher pedagogy and how NAPLAN has caused changed to the national

curriculum. Polesel and Rice draw on significant number of studies to support their

introduction and background parts of their paper and supplies hyperlinks too all of the
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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

reports they use in the reference section at the end of the journal article. They begin their

article with stating the existing evidence regarding the impact of testing on curriculum, the

effects on students, and uses evidence to help define NAPLAN as a high-stakes test. When

discussing that NAPLAN is a high stakes test they give background information from an

American study which helps to define the difference between high and low stake tests

(Johnson et al., 2008). This background information is supported by their own results as they

indicate that 80% of teachers indicated that NAPLAN is a high-stakes testing programme

which can have negative impact on students. They continue by indicating the impacts that

high-stakes testing can have on students and has a very similar opinion to Dulfers argument

in her Conversation article. Another element the journal article touches on is the effects

NAPLAN has on the curriculum and teacher pedagogy. The support this with evidence in

their introduction by citing a research paper by Au (2008) which indicated that high-stakes

testing has a negative impact on teacher pedagogies with a resultant degradation of

students experiences of learning. This supported their results that 82% of participants in

their study agree that NAPLAN was occupying significant time in their already crowded

curriculum. The article as a neutral stance and avoids being biased by providing background

information for both sides of the argument. For example it cites evidence that suggest that

NAPLAN testing can have positive effects on students including improved thinking skills and

confidence (Anderson, 2009). The context of the study from Polesel and Rice is aimed at

only the opinions of teachers giving a ground level perspective of the issues NAPLAN raises.

This choice of method helps to give a qualitative approach to the issues and gives general

perspective of over 8000 teachers nationwide to help support their research. Polesel and

Rice journal concurs with Dulfers (2012) argument about NAPLAN and gives clear evidence

from their own study and cited other literature to help support their side of the argument.
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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

There are a number of implications in terms of teaching practice and educational system in

relation to NAPLAN. The articles from the Conversation debate a number of issues against

each other in relation to whether NAPLAN is high or low stake testing and the outcomes

NAPLAN has on students, the curriculum and teacher pedagogy. There are a range of

implications discussed that show NAPLAN testing is high-stakes (Dulfer, 2012) and this was

heavily supported by the peer reviewed article by Polesel and Rice (2013). Both these

articles reduce the credibility of McGaws argument as they have strong links to NAPLAN

being high stakes and having negative outcomes. An implication to educator could be the

need to de-emphasise NAPLAN testing. This would reduce focus on literacy and numeracy

curriculum areas allowing more focus on other elements of the curriculum including history,

pdhpe and visual arts. Also reducing the focus on these curriculum areas would allow

teachers to use a variety of pedagogies which dont only focus on English and math. With

82% of teachers indicating they change their pedagogical approaches in class due to

NAPLAN will allow them to use more methods when approaching class, taking out the

emphasise on spelling, grammar, numeracy and writing. This reduced the motions of

Teaching to Tests as the tests would have no immediate effect on both teacher and

students. By reducing the significance on NAPLAN tests it would allow teachers to use a

variety of different teacher pedagogies. As Clark (2014) states all students learn from

different pedagogical approaches and by allowing teachers to use a variety of approaches

will foster some students achievement levels.

In conclusion we can assess whether NAPLAN testing is a low or high stakes test with

negative outcome to teaching pedagogy, the curriculum and students. This paper analysed

the three articles and assessed how credible each were, using literature to either support or
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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

controvert their claims. By assessing them the paper discussed some implications these

articles could pose on the education system to improve the use of NAPLAN testing. By de-

emphasising the NAPLAN test we showed a variety of potential positive outcomes which

were supported by literature. Although there is still a need for further research in Australian

schools to help support the de-emphasis of NAPLAN testing or other appropriate

recommendations.

References

Anderson, J. 2009.Using NAPLAN Items to Develop Students Thinking Skills and Build
Confidence. Australian Mathematics Teacher 65 (4): 1724.
Au, W. 2008a. Between Education and the Economy: Highstakes Testing and the
Contradictory Location of the New Middle Class. Journal of Education Policy 23 (5): 501
513
Clarke, M., & Pittaway, S. (2014).Marsh's becoming a teacher (6th ed.). Frenchs Forest,
Australia: Pearson
Gonski, D. (2011).Final Report - Review of Funding for Schooling. Australian government.
Retrieved from http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/132421/20131129-1201/Review-of-Funding-
for-Schooling-Final-Report.pdf
Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from
http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum
McGaw, B. (2012).NAPLAN myths: its not a high stakes test. The Conversation. Retrieved
from https://theconversation.com/naplan-myths-its-not-a-high-stakes-test-11057
National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy.(2013). NAPLAN. Retrieved from
http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html
Dulfer, N. (2012).Testing the test:NAPLAN makes for stressed kids and a narrow curriculum,
The Conversation, Retrieved from http://apo.org.au/node/32044
Polesel, J., & Rice, S.(2014).The impact of high Stakes Testing on curriculum and pedagogy:
A Teacher Perspective from Australia. Journal of Education Policy. 5(29). Pp 640-657
Sutton, R. (2009).Educational Psychology, Chapter 1: The Changing Teaching Profession and
You..(Edition 2). pp 14
Ullman, J. (2015).Applying educational research: How to read, do, and use research to solve
problems of practice (Custom ed). Sydney, Australia: Pearson

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Braydon Webb Assessment Task Two Question 3 17506739

Wyn, J., Turnbull, M., & Grimshaw, L. (2014).The experience of Education:The impacts of
high stakes testing on school students and their families.

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