Monday, September 29, 2014

NAPLAN Maths Question

Can you solve this one?

How long did it take you?

Answer tomorrow (Tuesday September 30)


Friday, September 26, 2014

Free for English Teachers and Students



Send an email to kilbaha@gmail.com to receive a free sample response to the following exam question on "Twelve Angry Men":
"It's not easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first." ‘
The 8th Juror is the only member of the jury who values the life of the boy who is on trial.’ Do you agree?

Thursday, September 25, 2014

ACARA Update on Tailored Testing

ACARA has just released the following report:

National Assessment and Surveys Online Program: tailored test design 2013 study

 
Tailored test design is sound, feasible and more engaging
 
Today ACARA is releasing the National Assessment and Surveys Online Program: tailored test design 2013 study.
 
Key findings from completed research by ACARA, which was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, have revealed that the tailored test design – a key concept in the move to online assessment – is sound, feasible and more engaging for students.                                    
 
The research also found that as many as 50 per cent of students will experience an enhanced assessment experience, particularly high- and low-achieving students.
 
ACARA General Manager, Assessment and Reporting, Dr Stanley Rabinowitz, said today, ‘The tailored test design and online assessment in general have been proven effective in the NAPLAN context.

‘We will get better quality results that are returned quicker, which will benefit governments, schools, parents, teachers and students. We expect to see more engaged students and better informed teachers and parents.’

As students concluded the trials of online tailored test design, they reported feeling more positive and accomplished, regardless of their abilities and educational background. The trials also provided an opportunity for students to be assessed by tests catering to their needs, as well as more accurate and timely diagnostic information about student learning needs.
 
‘ACARA is continuing the research into moving assessment online, and further research results will be available in 2015. The research enables ACARA to continue to fine tune our approach to moving assessment online. We need to keep investing in the research so that when the Education Council makes its decision about the country’s move to online assessment, ACARA, along with our partners, is ready to go,’ said Dr Rabinowitz.
 
‘The sooner we get online, the quicker the benefits can appear for governments, schools, parents, teachers and students. This research shows us the future of assessment for Australian school students, and we know it works. We now need to get on and implement it.‘
 
Read the research paper and a summary of the research paper on the National Assessment Program (NAP) website.
 
Background to the research program
In 2012 ACARA was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education to conduct research to inform decisions on the transition of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from paper-based to computer (online) assessments.                                    
 
The initial phase of research, undertaken in 2012, investigated how the test delivery mode (paper versus computer) affected student performance in and engagement with the current NAPLAN tests. The second phase of research, conducted in 2013 and summarised here, investigated the feasibility of the enhanced adaptive test design for NAPLAN online assessments.
 
Learn more about the research program on the NAP website. 
 
Multistage adaptive test design (the ‘tailored test design’)
 
Multistage adaptive test design (the ‘tailored test design’) is where the test difficulty is adjusted to students’ needs. After students respond to a set of test items, they are provided with a subsequent set of items that best suits their observed ability (that is, achievement level). In the proposed tailored test design, students go through three stages containing item sets (testlets) of varying difficulties to complete the test as illustrated in Figure 1: 
 

Figure 1: Tailored test design (TTD). This figure illustrates testlets and six test pathways available in TTD
 
2013 main tailored test design study
 
During 2013, more than 250 schools of satisfactory diversity participated voluntarily in the main tailored test design study. Over 2500 students in Years 3 and 5, and 1500 students in Years 7 and 9 completed either numeracy or reading online tests. Most of the testlets used in this study were created from existing NAPLAN test items that had been rendered to suit the online delivery mode.
 
Learn more about tailored test design on the NAP website.

Related studies
In a related study, students from 16 mainstream schools participated in structured interviews to ascertain how they reacted to the rising and falling pattern of item difficulty, a crucial feature of the tailored test design.
The same methodology was used in a separate study that investigated whether the tailored test design can accommodate the assessment needs of students with socio-educational disadvantage.                                                                          
In another study, ACARA collaborated with the Northern Territory Department of Education to collect information about the extent to which the proposed tailored test design provides a better testing experience for Indigenous students and students in remote communities. In this study, online tests were administered in eight Northern Territory schools, including two very remote schools.
 
Key findings
 
The key findings from these studies are as follows:
  • Results of the tailored test design studies show that the delivery of multistage branching tests for NAPLAN online is sound and feasible, and that these tests offer better measurements of student performance, particularly for high- and low-achieving students. The results show that the current measurement model can be used to construct a NAPLAN online measurement scale.
  • The psychometric analyses also show that further work is required to finalise the measurement aspects of the tailored test design; in particular, testlet boundaries require further refinement.
  • The tailored test design and the proposed branching mechanism work effectively to adapt to the different ability groups. Consequently, well-targeted tests can be administered to different ability groups, thus increasing measurement precision.
  • The investigation of cognitive and behavioural engagement of students with the tailored test design showed that multistage testing will provide an opportunity for all students to be assessed by tests catering more fully for their assessment and learning needs.
Third phase of the research program
In August 2014 ACARA began the third phase of its research program with the aim to further refine the measurement aspects of the tailored test design for reading and numeracy tests. This study also includes trialling of grammar, punctuation and spelling test items delivered online, including students listening to spelling items through headphones. The results of this program will be available in 2015.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 7 Numeracy Non-Calculator

Kilbaha has published the detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 7 Numeracy Non-Calculator.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 7 Language Conventions


Kilbaha has published the detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 7 Language Conventions.

An essential teaching resource for all schools.

Download the order form here.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Tailored tests

ACARA has developed a tailored test design, which could be applied to NAPLAN online. The 'tailored test' is a multistage, branching test design that delivers different sets of questions ('testlets') to students depending on their achievement on previous questions. Online delivery of assessments allows the use of a tailored test design to better match questions to an individual student's ability in a way that is not feasible for paper-based testing.

The tailored test design for reading and numeracy was developed and trialled in schools in 2013. Reading and numeracy tests had a number of testlets. Each testlet was developed as a mini-test. Each student completed three testlets.

The diagram and discussion below illustrate a proposal for the potential paths that students may take through NAPLAN online reading and numeracy tests:
multistage branching test design
All students at each year level start with the same set of questions (testlet A). The computer system scores the student's answers automatically and the student then progresses to a second testlet. The second testlet may be easier (B) or more difficult (D) than testlet A, depending on the student's achievement.
At the end of the second testlet, the student is directed to a third testlet, again depending on achievement. The final testlets are of varying difficulty: hard (F), medium (E), easy (C).
Proposed tailored test designs for grammar and punctuation, and spelling will be trialled in 2014.
Benefits of this tailored test design include the following:
  • Tailored tests provide a more precise measurement of student performance. This design allows for greater differentiation of students by using a wider range of question difficulty, without adding to the length of the test for each individual student.
  • Trials of the tailored test design suggest that students are more engaged with tests that adapt to their achievement. Students who struggle with the initial set of questions are given questions that are more suited to their ability, so that students are less likely to become discouraged as they progress through the tests. High-achieving students are given questions that better challenge their abilities.
  • The tailored test design has the potential to reduce anxiety in students who may find the current paper-based format of NAPLAN too challenging.
  • While each student will still answer the same number of questions as for the paper tests, the number of items in the whole test is larger. As a result, a wider range of aspects of the curriculum can be tested across the NAPLAN cohort.
ACARA's online assessment research continues with a second trial of the tailored test design in 2014. The trial will finalise the targeting and measurement aspects of the tailored test design. The research will also investigate how testlets will be trialled for the new design and how the testlets will be used to construct NAPLAN online tests. Fully branching tailored tests in reading and numeracy will be trialled as well as new options for grammar and punctuation, and spelling.
For more information about upcoming trials, please contact: onlineresearch@acara.edu.au.

NAPLAN Online Trials


ACARA reports that: Online trials off to a good start

Since 2012, ACARA has been undertaking a range of research activities to look at the feasibility and practicality of delivering NAPLAN tests in an online environment. Delivering tests online gives opportunities to administer better testing, primarily through tailored testing (where test questions are tailored to the individual student’s ability), and to provide faster turnaround of results..
Between 18 August and 12 September this year, 300 schools are taking part in a study to finalise the targeting of the test design and its branching mechanism; that is, the way students are directed to certain sets of questions based on their demonstrated abilities. During the trials to date:
  • Testing has taken place in 56 schools in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.
  • Two hundred and six test sessions in numeracy, reading, grammar and punctuation, and spelling have been delivered.
  • Students have completed over 5800 tests.
  • The first ever spelling tests via audio files have been trialled to 325 students in South Australia.

For more information on the online trials, see the NAP website.

Sample response to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Test - Year 5 Writing - Change a rule or law


Kilbaha has published a sample response to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Test - Year 5 Writing "Change a rule or law".

Read a sample response to this controversial topic.
 
An essential teaching resource for all schools.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 5 Numeracy

 

Kilbaha Multimedia Publishing has published the detailed answers to the ACARA 2014 May NAPLAN Tests - Year 5 Numeracy.

An essential teaching resource for all schools.
 

Monday, September 1, 2014

2014 Kilbaha VCE Trial Exams

All orders for the 2014 Kilbaha VCE Trial Exams received up to and including Monday September 1, 2014 have been supplied to schools.

NAPLAN resources

NAPLAN resources

Numerous NAPLAN resources are available at

http://kilbaha.com.au