Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

The National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, is an annual assessment of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. At is an everyday part of the school calendar and has been since 2008. NAPLAN test dates for 2013 are 14 and 16 May—so, this week—and across Australia approximately one million students will sit the test. The purpose of NAPLAN is to provide reliable, comparable information on how students, schools and school systems are performing against national standards, including national minimum standards in each of the assessed areas. NAPLAN tests the sorts of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life, such as reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. NAPLAN allows governments, education authorities, schools, teachers and parents to determine whether or not young Australians are meeting important education outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

All students in years 3, 5 and 7 are encouraged to participate, as I said. Although participation is not mandatory, it is pleasing to see that withdrawal rates nationally are very low. Back in 2012, for all students sitting the NAPLAN tests, the withdrawal rate was 1.5 per cent across all domains and year levels. When students do not take part in NAPLAN, the students, their parents and their teachers miss out on the opportunity to see where they are doing well and what areas they may need to work on. So we encourage full participation in the NAPLAN test process.