I find this so frustrating, Naplan is not testing the kids as such, it is testing schools and curriculum. It is nothing to do with a childs end of year grades b or going up a year, any school using it for such is doing the wrong thing. It is not designed to be studdied for. My perspective on the benefit of sitting it is that it is an opportunity to have kids used to exams without pressure, by the end of school if your child can be relaxed in an exam, they have a huge advantage. Id be taking the opportunity to just do general curriculum study and boost the childs confidence then let them treat the Naplan test as a small easy distraction on the day.

As for the maths; the question states 21 is in the sequence and it moves in steps of 3, so 18 is the only possible answer.

my daughter is doing the year 9 naplan this week also, and some of the english and maths questions seem really ambiguous. i excelled in maths but cant understand some of the questions they are asking. why do they do that? i want the bureaucrat to come out and explain why they cant write a question properly.

Cal,
the kids needs to pass the naplan to graduate.

The debatable answers are either 16 or 18...... 21 is not in the choice of 4 answers. How is an 8 year old going to fair when we are squabbling about it???

If naplan is a measure of the schools progress, than studying for it at home is cheating its purpose, as the school will fair better than it should (provided a large number of kids to extra work to bring the mark up).

I would doubt that there is a difference between the states, but I agree with Poida. I thought you had to pass. Kat75s take on it though is interesting..

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Chris6791 said..

Sailhack said..
Slightly off topic, but I recently attended a first aid course and one of the answers conflicted with the workbook supplied. In order to gain competency, I needed 100% so when the assessor was marking the results - he asked me about it and I told him the answer sheet must be wrong! He told me to "just change the answer so that it corresponded with the correct answer on the sheet" which I refused to do. This started confusion in the classroom with nearly everyone changing their answer...whilst I refused to and was told that I would possibly fail my first aid (probably only person in history to do so!)

I got home and immediately emailed the company that produced the workbook (also the RTO). I immediately got a response thanking me for my honesty as the workbook had been in circulation for 6 months and this was the first they had heard of it.

I passed...and got sent some promotional posters as a thank you. I haven't seen the assessor since but expect that he still maintains that what is in the book is right - even if it's wrong.

Sounds familiar, I have to do quite a few online, compulsory training modules for work. They seem to spit out a new one every month or So. Every online exam has at least one question that is worded wrong or all the answers are incorrect. Many times we've contacted the office that co-ordinates and releases these modules but they refuse to change it because it would cost too much money, or some other bull**** excuse.

^This,

Nothing but nothing gets my goat than paying for a course and finding errors in the syllabus or worse the exam.
1) Course creator - you have one job to do! Get it right.

2) As a learner of the topic, one of two outcomes is the result of finding errors (3 if not giving a f**k can be considered an outcome)
2a) The learner who is doing well with the subject doesn't trust the rest of the package - ie what else is wrong? Will I be penalised for the 'correct' wrong answer.
2b) The learner who is not doing well gets discouraged because they keep getting stuff wrong - even when they are right!

3) Pointing out the error shows (1) that they did poor job. (1) either acknowledges the error AND fixes it (we are all human) or Gets the hump with the learner for pointing out (1)s inadequacies and then starts marking like an asshole.

4) When finding out the subject matter hasn't been updated for x years (Surely I'm not the first person to find this error?) you wonder just WTF your paying for?



Almost all training I've done has been like this.

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Poida said...
my daughter is doing the year 9 naplan this week also, and some of the english and maths questions seem really ambiguous. i excelled in maths but cant understand some of the questions they are asking. why do they do that? i want the bureaucrat to come out and explain why they cant write a question properly.

Cal,
the kids needs to pass the naplan to graduate.

Interesting you say that Poida, as Naplan is not designed as a pass/fail test... Its purpose for a child in class is advertised as being an indicator for a teacher to provide extra help to some and greater challenges to others...

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Cal said..

Poida said...
my daughter is doing the year 9 naplan this week also, and some of the english and maths questions seem really ambiguous. i excelled in maths but cant understand some of the questions they are asking. why do they do that? i want the bureaucrat to come out and explain why they cant write a question properly.

Cal,
the kids needs to pass the naplan to graduate.

Interesting you say that Poida, as Naplan is not designed as a pass/fail test... Its purpose for a child in class is advertised as being an indicator for a teacher to provide extra help to some and greater challenges to others...

here is a google result from another school info to parents

As a result of new requirements for gaining a WACE and achieving Secondary Graduation, the Year 9 NAPLAN tests take on greater significance for Western Australian students and this article is designed to highlight the importance of the testing, why Year 9 students need to take these tests seriously and what the College and parents can do to help students gain success in the tests. From 2016 onwards one of the requirements for gaining a WACE and achieving Secondary Graduation in Year 12 is to demonstrate a minimum standard of Literacy and Numeracy. The standard is based on the skills regarded as essential for individuals to meet the demands of everyday life in a knowledge based economy. The minimum standard has been defined as achieving Band 8 or 9 in each student’s individual Year 9 NAPLAN tests. Students who gain Band 8 or 9 in these tests will be considered as having achieved the minimum standard. Students who do not gain Band 8 or above will be required to sit Online Literacy and Numeracy tests (OLNA) commencing in April of the following year and continuing in April and September of each proceeding year until they achieve the standard. Students who do not achieve the minimum standard by the end of Year 12 will not gain a WACE or Secondary Graduation. Significantly, students will be offered 6 opportunities to achieve the minimum standard before they leave secondary school, through the OLNA testing. However, if a student achieves Band 8 or above in Year 9 NAPLAN they will be considered as pre-qualified and therefore will not be required to participate in the OLNA testing. Hence, it is in the student’s best interest to prepare thoroughly for the NAPLAN testing, to try their best and take the tests seriously.

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God, even worse I bought something for $11 and handed them $16 to get a fiver back and they look stumped.

How do you hand over $ 16 without a 5er?

Very interesting Poida.

Seems to contradict the information put out by Naplan but education is a state thing so suppose it is within WA's rights. Although it really says that to pass year 12 you need to be able to get B+/A- at a year 9 standard. That isnt much to ask!

Our kids do well at school and the principal has made a point of asking us that we make sure they aren't sick or away on the day the Naplan tests are conducted. I wonder if he also asks parents of kids that struggle to "keep your kids at home" that day?

The whole thing is open for cheating imo.

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Toph said..

Counting to 21 by 3's, which number appears in the sequence.

11
16
18
22

What do you get

63 ?
Just happen I had 3 dollars coins in my pocket. I counted all 21 of them and deposited to my nearest bank. They show me $63 on the statement sequence later

NAPLAN as already stated is primarily designed to rate the school and how well they are delivering the curriculum. The child rating is supposed to be an independent guide (from teachers reports) for parents on how well their child is coping. Students are not supposed to study for the tests either at school or at home but rather just come to school and do the tests on the day. It is supposed to be stress free

From being on the school council at my daughters school this is what we do know...

1.. Some Parents use school NAPLAN rankings to help select a school for their child
2.. some schools have specific study just for NAPLAN
3.. some schools ask under performing students to stay away during NAPLAN
4.. Anecdotally it is believed that the education dept may use individual NAPLAN results to study different types of demographics such as region and ethnic background


The he answer is 18

It's the only number that will work. 3,6,9,12,15,18..

18 is the answer basis the other numbers given in the sequence.. To reach 21

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Toph said...
The debatable answers are either 16 or 18......

Toph, there can be no debate, its simple arithmetic. The answer is 18 and there must be a misprint in the commercial training paper.