Frequently asked questions

Schools across Australia will start to go online from 2018 on an opt-in basis. State/territory education authorities are responsible for determining when their state/territory moves to NAPLAN Online.  

• Education Services Australia is responsible for developing the online assessment capability and platform, using ACARA’s detailed requirement specifications.
• ACARA is responsible for the NAPLAN Online assessment and for reporting the results of these assessments.
• State and territory school authorities are responsible for ensuring their schools are ready to move online.

NAPLAN Online supports BYOD (bring your own device) for students. BYOD devices must be secured so students do not have access to unauthorised websites, applications and spell-checking features. NAP locked-down browser applications are available to support schools in ensuring online assessments run smoothly.

Visit the BYOD section on the 'Technical requirements' page of the NAP website.

The NAPLAN Online assessment platform (under Education Services Australia's direction) has state-of-the-art security protections. The online platform is designed and has been extensively tested to be compliant with government and industry standards for security, interoperability, privacy and accessibility.

In preparing for NAPLAN Online, the online test environment has been used in various online assessment activities as well as the National Assessment Program: Civics and Citizenship sample assessment in 2016. These activities have allowed us to test the security of the system. 

Visit the 'Technical requirements' page of the NAP website.

During the test, students are presented with sets of questions based on their performance. Many of these questions are of mid-range complexity for each year level, but some are of higher or lower complexity. Students who experience difficulty early in the test are given some questions of lower complexity, more suited to their performance. These students are less likely to become discouraged as they progress through the tests. High-achieving students are given questions that they find more challenging.

Students who complete a more complex pathway are more likely to achieve a higher score (and a higher band placement). Students who answer the same number of questions correctly, but follow a less complex pathway, will achieve a lower score.

Read the tailored testing fact sheet ( 361kb).

NAPLAN questions have always assessed a wide range of difficulty. What differs from student to student in the online test is targeted questions of either higher or lower complexity, depending on the student’s performance. These targeted questions are designed to provide more focused, detailed results that can be used to target teaching.

Many school testing programs use a form of tailored testing; for example, the Progressive Achievement Test in Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary and Spelling, which uses adaptive testing to match questions to each student’s level of achievement.

Most recently, ACARA has trialled tailored testing in more than 250 schools across Australia, using the actual test platform and real NAPLAN items, looking at both student performance during the test and the impact on the cognitive engagement and behaviour of students. More than 2,500 students in Years 3 and 5, and 1,500 students in Years 7 and 9 participated in the trials.

ACARA’s research found that most students completed the test feeling positive and motivated to do their best and the test results were more useful in supporting the next stage of their learning.

Read the tailored testing fact sheet ( 361kb).

Automated essay scoring (AES) can mark thousands of essays consistently, reliably and quickly. The system uses computer algorithms that are designed to mirror human scoring.

Delivery of assessments online will significantly reduce the time it takes to provide results and feedback to schools, students and parents.

Following extensive research undertaken by ACARA, NAPLAN online and paper forms have been explicitly designed to be comparable. Results for both paper and online tests will be reported on the same NAPLAN assessment scale for each test. The use of a common assessment scale, covering Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in each of the areas of conventions of language, numeracy, reading and writing, allows for an individual student’s achievement to be mapped as the student progresses through his or her schooling.

No, the paper and online tests will assess the same literacy and numeracy skills, and test students on the same curriculum content.

Ensuring students are familiar with using devices, typing on them and navigating through programs is a part of students everyday learning and a requirement of the Australian Curriculum.

You can help your child become familiar with NAPLAN Online by accessing the public demonstration site on the NAP website. The demonstration site includes useful resources for schools to help students become familiar with the online test experience.

Schools will not require a computer for every student. The test window for NAPLAN Online has been increased to two weeks to allow increased flexibility for tests to be staggered over a longer period of time. This means all students will not need to complete the tests at the same time.

Spelling is assessed as a part of NAPLAN Online. A general requirement of NAPLAN Online is the student’s device must be secured (using a locked-down browser) so they cannot access unauthorised websites, applications and spell-checking features.

Students are supervised during the test as a requirement of NAPLAN Online to ensure test conditions are maintained.

Test administrators are responsible for checking if students are working on the correct test.

No student is disadvantaged if their device stops working during the test. In the event the device stops working, all responses will have been saved and the student can complete their test in a rescheduled test session.

Students can use paper to work out or plan their answers for the conventions of language, writing and numeracy tests. This paper is collected by a test administrator at the end of the test.

As with the paper NAPLAN, students who are sick cannot complete NAPLAN at home. Students who are absent on the day of testing may be able to complete catch-up tests if they return to school within the NAPLAN test window.

No, students must do NAPLAN tests in the mode of delivery (online or paper) offered by their school.

If a student is completing NAPLAN Online, they have the same amount of time to complete the test as a student completing the paper test.

Test times for NAPLAN are available on the 'Key dates' page of the NAP website.

Each state/territory test administration authority will determine the appropriate arrangements for testing students who are registered as undertaking non-school based education.

For example, home-schooled students completing NAPLAN Online may attend another school (or central location) on the test days as a visiting student.

NAPLAN Online works best when schools have suitable hardware and reliable access to the internet. To assist schools in ensuring they have a sufficient number of devices, the test window for NAPLAN Online is extended from three to nine days to allow flexibility for tests to be staggered. As such, students will not all need to complete the tests at the same time.

Students will also be allowed to complete NAPLAN Online using a variety of devices such as laptops and tablets. Visit the 'Technical requirements' page on the NAP website.

The writing test is not about handwriting skills and NAPLAN Online is not about keyboarding skills. There are variations in how fast and well a student can type, just as there are variations in how fast and well a student can write by hand. 

ACARA research shows that online writing is similar to handwriting in terms of the quality of writing produced by students at each year level. It also shows that students generally appreciate the use of online features such as editing tools (noting that online features such as grammar and spell-check are disabled during NAPLAN testing).

Students do not have to be able to touch type to successfully complete the test.

Student background information (including student identifier, sex, date of birth, language background and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status) and test participation and performance data are collected as part of the National Assessment Program. This information is treated confidentially and held securely to ensure that every student’s right to privacy is maintained. The NAPLAN online assessment platform has been built with state-of-the-art security features that have been rigorously tested.

Read the NAPLAN privacy notice or download the NAPLAN Online and protecting privacy infographic ( 1.4mb).

NAPLAN Online will use tailored testing, which means the test automatically adapts to student performance and presents questions that match student achievement level, allowing the student to demonstrate their knowledge. This means students are likely to be working on different questions at different times and many will be sitting tests with different items.

The tailored test design will also offer many more items than are currently used for the paper NAPLAN version, providing additional security protection.  

Education Services Australia will train key staff from states and territories on the functionality of the platform. Students and teachers can familiarise themselves with the testing experience, as well as the types of items to be included in the online tests by using the public demonstration site. Schools determine the device that students should practise on. Encourage students to practise on a device similar to the one they plan to use for the NAPLAN Online tests.

Every student with a disability has individual needs, experiences and functional abilities so there is no typical or uniform testing experience for students with a disability. Research-based adjustments are available for students with disabilities to allow them to access and participate in NAPLAN tests.

Visit the National protocols for test administration on the NAP website.