Today (Tuesday 13 May 2014) I had edited versions of letters about NAPLAN published in both The Courier-Mail and The Australian. In each case, underlined words were deleted and the bracketed ones were added. Both letters were submitted in my capacity as a private citizen and did not cite any connection with ETAQ or AATE.
Is NAPLAN worth the cost?
With this year’s nation-wide NAPLAN tests coinciding with what is anticipated to be a tough federal budget, it is reasonable to ask whether a proper cost-benefit analysis has ever been conducted on this government program.
Whether the program per se does more harm than good continues to be debated. But, even if there were universal agreement that it makes a useful contribution to teaching and learning in schools, it may still not be worth the chunk of a finite (the) education budget that it currently consumes.
I appreciate that the journalistic resources of newspapers are not what they once were, but I hope they can stretch to reporting and comment on this aspect of federal government expenditure.
Is NAPLAN worth the money?
(Is NAPLAN worth the money?) One important aspect of NAPLAN that Justine Ferrari’s piece didn’t address was the cost (“Busting the NAPLAN myths”, 12/5). Perhaps the claim that it is worth the money is a myth.
With a tough federal budget anticipated, surely a hard headed cost-benefit analysis of this program is called for. I do understand that the journalistic resources of papers are not what they once were, but I hoped (hope) that reporting and commenting on the cost of a government program like (such as) NAPLAN was (is) still possible.
On a minor point, Ferrari refers to a piece by Christopher Bantick which, she says, appeared in the Fairfax media. I read it in a News Limited paper, Brisbane’s The Courier-Mail.
Tags: Assessment |
May Masterclass 2021THE CHALLENGE OF TEACHING ANALYSIS: DO WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR PRACTICES? Teaching the process of analysing texts in order for students to produce a spoken or written response remains amongst the most exciting and difficult challenges we face as a community of English teachers. Most recently, the high-stakes nature of unseen examinations fo... |
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JCU SpectacularJoin Dr Claire Hansen for a two-hour session on teaching Macbeth. We'll dive into an exploration of the language of Macbeth and teaching strategies to engage students with Shakespeare's Scottish play. The workshop will also explore learning activities for Macbeth created by the Shakespeare Reloaded project. This session will... |
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Grammar DayA grammar workshop will be held at Elanora State High School on Saturday 29 May 2021 to assist attendees to develop their understandings of grammar in order to fully comprehend and to effectively teach the Australia Curriculum: English (AC:E). Also highly relevant to Years 11 & 12. This will be an updated re-run of the activity ... |
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Teacher event - external assessmentThe second series of pre-external examination events will be held for teachers on Saturday 31 July as a face-to-face event and online. Recorded materials will remain available to all participants online until the examination week in October. Date Claimer giving further information is available for download ... |
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Student event - external assessmentFlexible modes of delivery will allow you and your students to engage with the materials at a time that suits you. Once again this event will be fully online to cater for all members and their students. This year the materials will come to you live in the afternoon of Wednesday 8 September and again in the morning of Saturda... |
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This is the first time I have been to an ETAQ conference and it was really sensational to get so much at all of the sessions.
ETAQ conferences always have sessions that make me excited to be a teacher.
I know that ETAQ conferences in the past have never disappointed - valuable, relevant, practical, inspiring so I came again.
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