Photo: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard holding the 2011 NAPLAN test. (Source: SMH)

For some time I've argued STRONGLY against NAPLAN testing. Research shows it doesn't work and is BAD for our children, yet the Prime Minister remains fixated on holding her course - in spite of evidence to the contrary.

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald further validates my position. Here are some key quotes based on US Research:

NAPLAN-style testing and reporting has failed in the United States by narrowing the curriculum and corrupting education standards, says a chief education adviser to the US President, Barack Obama...

Schools and individual teachers have been judged and rewarded financially for improving student test scores and punished for poor ones. This led to many of the best teachers abandoning schools in the disadvantaged areas, with some teachers accused of teaching to the test and others of helping children cheat to improve results.

"We have seen growing student exclusion to get the scores up. Schools either prevent students from taking the test or encourage them to leave school," she said.

"It doesn't serve society to say we got our scores up but didn't educate lots of children. At the end of the day, it hurts the economy."

"The US is taking a U-turn away from test-based accountability,'' said Professor Darling-Hammond. ''We hope not to meet Australia heading in the other direction in seeking policies we have sought to move away from."

Our kids don't need it. Our teachers don't need it. Our schools don't need it.

NAPLAN is scheduled for May 8-10 in Australian schools, but your kids don't have to do it. You can write a letter to your principal and request that your child not participate.

I've submitted the following article to the SMH as an op-editorial piece and have received a positive response. You may find it interesting:


Why my kids won't sit the NAPLAN in May

NAPLAN is being pronounced by Australian policy-makers and politicians as the diagnostic tool that will save our schools, and by extension, develop our students into exceptional learners. In concert with the myschool website, schools and education departments will deliver resources to those students who need help most - and they claim it can only be done by using this standardised test!

These claims, however, remain generally untested. Based on data from other countries that use standardised testing, caution is warranted. There are a substantial number of things NAPLAN will not do, and these things matter. Our politicians don't seem to be aware of these faults with the ongoing push for more and more high-stakes testing in our children's lives. Here are a few things NAPLAN will not do for your children.

NAPLAN won't improve your child's education. Standardised tests do not improve student achievement. To the contrary, curriculum is narrowing. Many schools are reducing time on music, sports, and art. In some schools, children have been kept in class to 'practice' testing rather than attending alternative activities - such as lunch!

NAPLAN won't improve your child's literacy - despite claims to the contrary. Teaching children to colour in bubbles does not teach kids to do anything but shade bubbles. Children become literate and engaged in learning when reading is for reading's sake and writing is meaningful to the person doing the writing. NAPLAN reading and writing offers little intrinsic meaning to anyone, particularly the student.

NAPLAN tells us nothing about teacher effectiveness. Great teachers create a positive environment, promote curiosity and love of learning, participation, cooperation, and leadership. NAPLAN does not tell us about these things.

NAPLAN will not create a positive and respectful school climate. It is particularly damaging to children with disabilities, children whose first language is not English, and children from low-income families. NAPLAN tells us even less about school quality. Scores on a high-stakes standardised test tell us nothing about the social cohesion, morale of teachers and students, bullying, extra-curricular successes in sports, music, the arts, and so on.

NAPLAN won't help relationships between parents, students, and teachers. Instead, particularly if NAPLAN is linked with proposed merit-pay for teachers (which is presently endorsed by both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader), NAPLAN will punish teachers, lead to increased pressure on students, and will promote hostility between administrators and parents.

NAPLAN won't improve your child's performance in tertiary learning. At university your child won't see the questions in advance, nor will answers be force-fed as they are in school. At university you're expected to think critically, learn independently, inquire, and generate answers to real problems. NAPLAN does not measure, test, or diagnose these skills.

NAPLAN won't make a difference to your kids' employment prospects. In a recent U.S workplace report, employers stated they seek teamwork, ethics and social responsibility, professionalism, and oral communication as valued skills in prospective employees. NAPLAN does not measure, test, or diagnose these skills.

NAPLAN provides nothing in terms of education for life skills. Children's NAPLAN scores will not develop them into good mothers and fathers or husbands and wives. These are the most important roles in life, and they require confidence, cooperation, and compassion. Standardised tests produce stress and anxiety and promote competition. Children in Australian schools are experiencing headaches, stress, depression, stomach aches, and fatigue in growing numbers. The percentage of children being medicated is increasing at alarming rates.

NAPLAN (and standardised testing generally) runs precisely against research on what makes for quality learning, and the very core of academic engagement. It also fails equitable opportunity, and ignores developmental differences in children.

Our children need teachers and parents who provide opportunities for curiosity, exploration, and mastery. They need less pressure, less high-stakes, and more opportunities to grow and learn at their own pace with appropriate support. Our children need exposure to a wide range of options, activities, and arts. NAPLAN threatens these opportunities.

In terms of individual students' learning, NAPLAN is next to useless. Individual student data has a short shelf-life. And NAPLAN data takes so long to come back to a teacher that it loses any potential value it had in regards to individuals. It is a poor teacher that has to rely on NAPLAN to tell them what students in their care can and cannot do. As a means of assessing student understanding it is a blunt instrument.

This May my three oldest daughters will be sent to school with a refusal note the day before NAPLAN testing begins. Our school principal recognises, accepts, and respects our parental authority and the associated decision. NAPLAN, particularly when run in concert with myschool.com.au, turns school into contest, and the losers are not just our kids, but our parents, teachers, and our future.