The tests

Only selected groups of students in Years 6 and 10 participate in NAP sample assessments, which are held on a rolling three-yearly basis. Sample assessments began in 2003 with science literacy, followed by civics and citizenship in 2004 and ICT literacy in 2005, so these assessments occur in different years. Participating schools are chosen carefully to ensure that the samples are sufficiently large enough to provide an accurate picture of the performance of students in each state and territory.

School release materials

School release materials are available to schools following each sample assessment. The information and assessment materials in these documents have been designed to assist teachers to administer their own assessment and gauge their own students’ proficiency in the relevant area. By replicating components of the Year 6 and Year 10 sample assessments, teachers may be able to judge their students’ proficiency in relation to the proficiency levels for each domain. It is anticipated that teachers will be able to reflect on this information to enhance teaching and monitoring programs in Australian schools.

The school release materials for NAP–SL and NAP–CC, developed between 2003 and 2013, provide teachers with a guide for administering the test, a printable test booklet, a marking guide and a table to convert student scores into levels on the relevant National Assessment Program scale.

As NAP Sample assessments have moved from pen and paper testing to online delivery, ACARA has introduced demonstration test websites as an evolution of the abovementioned school release materials. The demonstration sites are used to familiarise students, teachers and parents with the kinds of questions they might face in the NAP–SL and NAP–CC tests. Please note that while the demonstration site tests include questions that cover the range of science literacy and civics and citizenship strands, they do not reflect all components of the tests themselves.

School release materials are also provided for the NAP–ICTL assessments. These materials, though they do not contain interactive online demonstration tests, provide information about the tests that teachers should find helpful. The NAP–ICTL materials also contain PowerPoint and video presentations of demonstration modules.