ABSTRACT
This chapter reports findings from a project undertaken in 2013 and 2014 that investigated how schools and teachers were making use of NAPLAN data to improve student learning. It also investigates how well NAPLAN was serving the original purpose stated in national policies that introduced literacy and numeracy testing in Australia the identification of individual students at risk in order to provide early intervention. The current chair of the ACARA board has explained that the federal government's intention in introducing and reporting NAPLAN results was to provide a diagnostic tool for teachers identifying gaps in students. The data presented in the chapter result from a research project that set out to investigate how schools and teachers were able to use NAPLAN outcomes, at school, class and individual level, to improve student learning. If positive engagement with schooling and long-term retention are national goals, NAPLAN may well be working against these by creating broader characterisation of risk.
