The Naplan writing test is “bizarre” and rewards students for using big words rather than clear expression, an international education expert has said. Perelman said of the 10 to 12 international tests he had examined that Australia’s Naplan writing test was “by far the most absurd and the least valid of any test”. It’s measuring all the wrong things … It rewards using big words.”Markers of the Naplan test are given lists of words categorised as “simple”, “common”, “difficult” and “challenging”. Giving higher marks to more complex words can reward students for using words such as “demonstrate” instead of the simpler “show”. “[The writing test] does not sit in isolation – it sits alongside a separate literacy test, as well as a separate numeracy test,” he said.

Source: The Guardian April 09, 2018 00:11 UTC