An optional literacy and numeracy exam will be made available to students in years five and nine next term in light of the disruptions schools have faced during the COVID-19 lockdown.
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NSW Teachers Federation senior vice president Amber Flohm praised the 'check-in assessment' for its "testing to the teaching" approach, and quick results turnaround.
"This test is focusing on what's been learnt already, to get an understanding of the student's progress, it's not about teaching for the test which is the case for the NAPLAN," Ms Flohm said.
Schools will be given a three week window to complete the progress test should they wish to, with results expected to be returned within a few days.
"It's not as much about how to catch students up in what they've missed. It's an on-call diagnostic tool rather than a standardised test, which we support," Ms Flohm said.
"Because a student can do the test anytime within the three weeks, it's more of a snapshot of that day."
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The exam will be made available online from the start of week five until the end of week seven, with additional resources expected to be deployed to classrooms in need following its completion.
Teachers will be provided with information about student strengths and areas for development within two days, which will include links to evidence based teaching strategies," a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said.
"Professional learning and resources will be provided before and after the assessment to help teachers tailor lessons to students' requirements."
If classroom teachers who choose to provide their students with the test require professional development sessions to learn how to use the interface or read results correctly, Ms Flohm expressed her hope that the sessions would be conducted within the "working hours and not in their own time without remuneration".
But she further stressed her praise for the test's optional quality.
"It is important that it remains optional and doesn't replace the work of teachers who are constantly assessing the needs of individual children," Ms Flohm said.
"This is just another form that that assessment can take, but we don't see it as the only assessment tool available to teachers."
But the test's reliance on connectivity has been questioned by the NSW Teachers Federation, with Ms Flohm pointing out the equity chasm that existed between city and rural schools during the learning-from-home lockdown.
"Any time a program is made solely available online means that some students will not be able to use it to the same degree as others," Ms Flohm said.
"That three week period is important to ensure that not all students will be logging in at the same time, but there remains an equity divide particularly in regional areas.
"In some areas, reliable internet is just hard to come by at any time."
The NSW Department of Education responded to questions on the test's online capacity by saying it had been designed "with the school's internet capacity in mind".
"We successfully operate a number of assessments using an online platform, which have been widely adopted by NSW schools," said a department spokesperson.
The spokesperson indicated confidence in regional school's capacity to access the test without issue.
"Schools are connected to a commercial-grade network with guaranteed levels of bandwidth," they said.
"The department has consistently tested the use of online resources for the purpose of student online tests."