Surprising findings from new analysis of declining NAPLAN writing test results

By Damon Thomas
Community contribution / November 17, 2020

Despite the considerable annual investments of money and school resources to hold the NAPLAN tests, almost no research has sought to investigate patterns of student achievement in the NAPLAN writing test data over time.

I wanted to know what the NAPLAN writing test results tell us about male and female student performance over time ...

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By Damon Thomas

Community

Damon Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in English Education at the University of Tasmania. His PhD investigated the persuasive writing choices made by primary and secondary school students who scored highly on the NAPLAN writing test and critiqued the test’s design. His research interests include reading and writing development and pedagogy, assessment, social semiotics and theories of persuasive communication.

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After more than 50 years in teaching, I strongly agree with this finding. It is not only our voices that are affected...

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Surprising findings from new analysis of declining NAPLAN writing test results

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