NAPLAN testing begins today for at least 380,000 NSW students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Over the next nine days of testing students in those cohorts across approximately 3,100 primary and high schools will sit the NAPLAN tests.
NAPLAN tests the knowledge and skills that students learn and apply in the classroom every day, assessing writing, reading, conventions of language and numeracy.
Student achievement will once again be measured against the four proficiency levels - Needs Additional Support, Developing, Strong, Exceeding - which set reasonable expectations of a student's knowledge and skills at the time of testing.
Over the past week the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has been working closely with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to ensure schools in northern NSW are supported to begin NAPLAN testing when they are ready to do so.
Affected schools in the region have been contacted and are being given support regarding testing. The anticipated start date for affected schools is Monday 17 March.
Any school that remains non-operational for the remainder of this week will be contacted by NESA and offered additional advice and support.
ACARA will provide access to school and student results for reading, conventions of language and numeracy early in Term 2 - around four weeks after the test period ends.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early learning said:
'I want to acknowledge that for large areas of NSW this has been a challenging few days because of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and the NSW Government's priority has been the safety of our students.
'NESA has provided affected schools with the reassurance that as they become operational, support is available to help them start testing.
'All the best to students sitting the NAPLAN tests from today.
'NAPLAN is only one aspect of each school's assessment program that will contribute to a teacher's insight into their student's educational progress.
'NAPLAN does help inform how well young Australian students are developing literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning.'
