[PDF] naplan 2013 state report with answers.pdf | Plain Text

| i Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Understanding and using the reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Marking and scoring the tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Reading the student report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Reading the class report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Reading the school report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Test results and key messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Writing — Years 3, 5, 7, 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Year 3 Literacy — Language conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Writing task sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Year 3 Literacy — Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Year 3 Numeracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Year 5 Literacy — Language conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Writing task sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Year 5 Literacy — Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Year 5 Numeracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Year 7 Literacy — Language conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Writing task sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Year 7 Literacy — Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Year 7 Numeracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Year 9 Literacy — Language conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Writing task sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Year 9 Literacy — Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Year 9 Numeracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

ii |2013 Test Reporting Handbook

| 3 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Preface Who should use this handbook? This handbook reports the performance of Queensland students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who sat the 2013 National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. It will help teachers, principals and other school personnel understand, interpret and use the student performance information contained in the test reports. Individual student reports are distributed with this handbook. Class and school reports are supplied electronically on the secure section of the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) website: www.qsa.qld.edu.au/qsa.secure/ QSAlogin.do These reports are accessible only with the school’s Brief Identification Code (BIC) login and password. Principals Principals can use this handbook to help interpret their school reports and to provide information to the school community on aspects of the tests. It provides information on how to access and interpret the online reports located on the QSA’s website. Curriculum leaders, Heads of Department and Heads of Special Education Services Curriculum leaders can use the handbook to interpret the class reports and use the tables of information to compare results with their own school data. Information about how Queensland performed in each year level is also provided in the Literacy and Numeracy sections of this handbook. Schools and teachers should look at this information as a reference to interpret their own results. Classroom teachers Classroom teachers can use information such as item descriptors, state and national results and the commentaries provided in this handbook to interpret the class reports of their students. Teachers can compare the performance of their students on a particular item with Australian results. For example, an item that was answered correctly by 30% of students overall and by 30% of their class, could provide reassurance as to the effectiveness of the teaching and learning program. Parents/carers Parents can use the information in the handbook to interpret the results on their child’s report. They are also able to judge how their child performed when compared with the whole population of students. The item descriptors provide useful information about the scope of the tests. Pre-service teachers Pre-service teachers will find the information in the commentaries on overall student performance useful in gaining an understanding of what students know and can do in some areas of Literacy and Numeracy at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

4 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Understanding and using the reports The NAPLAN tests were developed using the nationally agreed Statements of Learning for English and Statements of Learning for Mathematics, 2005, referred to as the Statements of Learning (SoLs). These statements describe essential skills, knowledge, understandings and capabilities that all young Australians should have the opportunity to acquire by the end of Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The SunLANDA item analysis links the questions and the SoLs. It is important that principals and teachers note the scope of the tests and how they were scored. Students were assessed in four areas: Language conventions, Writing, Reading and Numeracy. The NAPLAN tests are designed to provide a nationally comparable indication of student performance in Language conventions, Writing, Reading and Numeracy. The tests are not designed as formative tools. The tests are designed to assess a student’s ability to demonstrate the following skills: • Language conventions: The test assesses the ability of students to independently recognise and use correct Standard Australian English grammar, punctuation and spelling in written contexts. • Writing: The test assesses the ability of students to convey thoughts, ideas and information through the independent construction of a written text in Standard Australian English. • Reading: The test assesses the ability of students to independently make meaning from written Standard Australian English texts including those with some visual elements. • Numeracy: The test assesses students’ knowledge of mathematics, their ability to independently apply that knowledge in context, and their ability to independently reason mathematically. Marking and scoring the tests Calculating raw scores The simplest calculation made in scoring the tests is the raw score — the number of questions answered correctly. All of the questions for the Language conventions, Writing, Reading and Numeracy tests were marked as either correct or incorrect. Number of items in each test The Writing test was marked on the following 10 criteria with score points allocated as listed: Year Spelling Grammar Reading Numeracy 325 26 36 35 525 26 37 40 730 28 5032 Calculator Allowed (CA) 32 Non-Calculator (NC) 930 28 4932 Calculator Allowed (CA) 32 Non-Calculator (NC) Criteria Score points Criteria Score points Audience (0–6) Cohesion (0–4) Text structure (0–4) Paragraphing (0–3) Ideas (0–5) Sentence structure (0–6) Persuasive devices (0–4) Punctuation (0–5) Vocabulary (0–5) Spelling (0–6)

| 5 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Constructing scale scores Raw scores have limited use. They enable the performance of students who have all completed the same test at the same time to be placed in a rank order, but they do not provide information about the level of difficulty of the test nor the relative differences between students. To achieve this, raw scores are transferred to a common scale that reflects how difficult it was to achieve each score. The scale is comparable between Year levels for each assessment area. An equating process is also carried out on each year’s test to enable scores to be compared between years of testing. This might mean, for example, that a raw score of 20 on the Year 3 Reading test is transformed to a scale score of 354. This will also represent the same achievement for a student with the same scale score in Year 5, and for a student with the same scale score for Reading in a previous year. The single scale for all students in all Year levels is centred on approximately 500. Scale scores also provide a basis for measuring and comparing students’ abilities across years of schooling, for example, comparing a student’s result in Year 3 in 2011 and Year 5 in 2013. Range of difficulties The tests include questions that are intended to test a range of student abilities in a Year level. This means that not all students will answer all questions correctly. Some questions are very easy and others are quite challenging. Link questions Link questions are those that appear on two tests, for example, Year 3 and Year 5. These questions provide a way of placing test questions on a common scale so comparisons between the performances of the Year levels can be made. Placing the results in context The NAPLAN tests are national instruments designed to contribute to a school’s assessment program and to inform the teaching and learning cycle. The results from the 2013 NAPLAN tests represent only one aspect of a school’s assessment program. Principals and teachers should situate the test results within the context of the existing school assessment programs with data gathered through a balanced range of assessment techniques such as: • observation • consultation • focused analysis. The results from a school’s formal and informal assessment of students should be consistent with the NAPLAN test results. Principals and teachers should keep in mind that these were pencil-and-paper, point-in-time, timed tests. If the test results are different from what was expected, consider why differences may have occurred. The results of the tests may indicate aspects of student performance that need further investigation within the classroom using other forms of assessment. Error analysis Incorrect responses given by students are included on class reports. An analysis of incorrect responses can provide teachers with insights into literacy and numeracy understandings. An analysis of the distracters presented in multiple-choice questions and the most common incorrect responses given to constructed-response questions is available through the SunLANDA data analysis tool. This is available on the QSA website and is designed to help schools with their analysis of class and school results along with other school-based assessments. Test response formats Two response formats are used in both the Literacy and Numeracy tests: multiple choice and constructed response: • Multiple-choice questions ask students to respond to an item by shading a bubble or, in some instances, two bubbles. • Constructed-response questions ask students to respond to items in a more open manner. Students write their responses in the box or boxes provided, on lines or by sequencing numbers in boxes.

6 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Student participation All students are expected to participate in NAPLAN tests. Their participation is recorded in bubbles on the front covers of the test booklets. National test results are based on the number of assessed students. Assessed students include all students who attempt the test. Students who are present for the entire test session but do not complete any part of the test will be counted as assessed and receive a score of zero. Students exempt from testing are also included with assessed students. Students who are absent or withdrawn from the testing by parental request or who abandoned the test due to illness/injury are not counted as assessed students. The following table shows student participation categories and the corresponding statements that will appear on the student’s individual report. Further information on student participation cohorts can be found in the 2013 National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy — Handbook for Principals. Queries and anomalies All student, class and school reports should be checked as soon as they become available. It is the responsibility of the school to check that student details on individual reports are correct before these are given to parents/carers. The student details on the reports are the same as those provided by schools to the QSA. If any perceived errors are identified, principals should complete an Application to query student report and submit this to the QSA by 1 November 2013. This form is available from the NAPLAN Portal on the QSA website: www.qsa.qld.edu.au. Only queries submitted on this form will be processed. Student participation Text shown on the student report absent Your child was absent from this test and no result has been recorded. absent for one of the Numeracy tests in Years 7 or 9Your child does not have a result for one of the two Numeracy tests. The result presented here is an estimate of the score your child would have received if both tests had been completed. exemptYour child was exempt from this test and is considered not to have achieved the national minimum standard. parent withdrawn Your child was withdrawn from this test. abandoned test due to illness/injuryYour child does not have a result for this test due to illness or injury during the test. refused to complete Your child was present for the test but did not complete any part of the test paper.

| 7 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Reading the student report The student report presents individual student results. One copy of the report is provided for each student for distribution to parents/carers. If a student has transferred to another school, the report should be forwarded to the new school for distribution to parents/carers. If the original school is unsure of the student’s new school, the report should be retained. Sample student report — Pages 1 and 4 Pages 1 and 4 of the student report are illustrated below. The first page contains a brief explanation of NAPLAN and how to read the report. The matrix on the fourth page provides a summary of the skills assessed in this year’s tests. Band 9 8 7 6 5 4 Reading Persuasive WritingLanguage Conventions NumeracyProcesses and interprets ideas that are implicit in a range of complex narrative and information texts. Analyses and evaluates evidence LQSHUVXDVLYHWH[WVDQGLGHQWL¿HV language features to infer an author’s intended purpose and audience.Incorporates elaborated ideas that UHÀHFWDZRUOGZLGHYLHZRQWKH topic. Makes consistently precise word choices that engage and persuade the reader and enhance the writer’s point of view. Punctuates sentence beginnings and endings correctly and uses other complex punctuation correctly most of the time. Shows control and variety in paragraph construction to pace and direct the reader’s attention.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV ZRUGVZLWKGLI¿FXOWVSHOOLQJSDWWHUQV (miniature, severely, technological). Demonstrates knowledge of grammar and punctuation conventions in more complex texts, such as the correct use of possessive pronouns (its).Solves complex reasoning problems. Uses square roots and powers. Evaluates algebraic expressions and solves equations and inequalities using substitution. Interprets simple linear graphs. Interrogates data and ¿QGVPHDVXUHVRIFHQWUH&DOFXODWHV elapsed time across time zones. Determines angle size, area and volume of polygons and diameter and circumference of circles. Recognises congruence and uses similarity in regular shapes. Interprets ideas and processes information in a range of complex texts. Understands how character traits and behaviours are used to develop stereotypes. Analyses and interprets persuasive texts to infer DVSHFL¿FSXUSRVHDQGDXGLHQFH Uses the context to interpret YRFDEXODU\VSHFL¿FWRDWH[WRUWRSLFWrites a cohesive text that begins to engage and persuade the reader. Makes deliberate and appropriate word choices to create a rational or emotional response. Attempts to reveal attitudes and values and to develop a relationship with the UHDGHU&RQVWUXFWVPRVWFRPSOH[ sentences correctly. Spells most ZRUGVLQFOXGLQJPDQ\GLI¿FXOW words, correctly.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV PRVWZRUGVZLWKGLI¿FXOWVSHOOLQJ patterns (echoes, principle, angrily, encouraged). Demonstrates knowledge of grammar and punctuation conventions in more complex texts, such as appropriate sentence structure, the correct use of pronouns, pairs of conjunctions (neither, nor), forms of adverbs (more deeply), complex verb forms and quotation marks for effect.Solves non-routine problems and compares common fractions, decimals and key percentages. &RQWLQXHVOLQHDUSDWWHUQVDQG LGHQWL¿HVQRQOLQHDUUXOHV6ROYHV perimeter and area problems. Determines probabilities of outcomes RIH[SHULPHQWV&ODVVL¿HVWULDQJOHV DQGXVHVWKHLUSURSHUWLHV,GHQWL¿HV transformations of shapes and visualises changes to 3-D objects. Determines direction using compass points and angles of turn. Applies knowledge and understanding of different text types to process ideas, draw conclusions and infer themes and purpose. ,GHQWL¿HVGHWDLOVWKDWFRQQHFW implied ideas across and within texts including character motivation in narrative texts, the writer’s values in persuasive texts and the main ideas in information texts.Writes a persuasive text with a developed introduction, an elaborated body and a clear conclusion. Develops plausible arguments through use of logic, language choices and effective persuasive devices. Joins and orders ideas using connecting words and maintains clear meaning WKURXJKRXWWKHWH[W&RUUHFWO\VSHOOV most common words and some GLI¿FXOWZRUGVLQFOXGLQJZRUGVZLWK less common spelling patterns and silent letters.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV words with common spelling patterns DQGVRPHZRUGVZLWKGLI¿FXOWVSHOOLQJ patterns (temporary, ineffective, excellent, circulated). Demonstrates knowledge of grammar and punctuation conventions in more complex texts, such as the correct use of compound verbs (could have), apostrophes for possession (nobody’s) and quotation marks for speech.Solves multistep problems involving UHODWLRQDOUHDVRQLQJ&DOFXODWHV missing values in equations. Interprets rules and patterns and completes simple inequalities. Finds perimeters and areas of composite VKDSHV&DOFXODWHVHODSVHGWLPHV across midday and midnight. Expresses probability as a fraction. &RPSDUHVDQGFODVVL¿HVDQJOHVDQG solves problems involving nets. Uses scale to determine distance on maps. Makes meaning from a range of text W\SHVRILQFUHDVLQJGLI¿FXOW\DQG understands different text structures. Recognises the purpose of general text features such as titles and subheadings. Makes inferences by connecting ideas across different SDUWVRIWH[WV,QWHUSUHWV¿JXUDWLYH ODQJXDJHDQGLGHQWL¿HVWKHPDLQ differences between characters in narrative texts. Organises a persuasive text using focused paragraphs. Uses some effective persuasive devices and accurate words or groups of words when developing points of argument and ideas. Punctuates nearly all sentences correctly with capitals, full stops, exclamation marks and TXHVWLRQPDUNV&RUUHFWO\XVHV more complex punctuation markers some of the time.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV most words with common spelling patterns (soldiers, address, meant, activity). Demonstrates knowledge of grammar and punctuation conventions in more complex texts, such as appropriate and clear sentence structure and the correct use of varied conjunctions (whether).Solves multistep problems including those involving directed numbers, decimals, fractions and percentages. &RQWLQXHVSDWWHUQVWRKLJKHUWHUPV Finds unknowns in simple equations. &RQYHUWVEHWZHHQIDPLOLDUXQLWVRI PHDVXUH&DOFXODWHVGXUDWLRQVRI events. Interprets and uses data from a variety of displays. Recognises nets of familiar 3-D objects and symmetry in irregular shapes. Interprets maps using scales, legends and coordinate systems. Uses clearly stated information in familiar text types to draw some conclusions and inferences. Draws conclusions about a character LQQDUUDWLYHWH[WV&RQQHFWV and sequences ideas in longer LQIRUPDWLRQWH[WVDQGLGHQWL¿HV opinions in persuasive texts.Structures a persuasive text to include an introduction and a body containing some related points of argument. Includes enough supporting detail for the writer’s point of view to be easily understood by the reader, although the conclusion may be weak or simple. &RUUHFWO\VWUXFWXUHVPRVWVLPSOH and compound sentences and some complex sentences.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV one- and two-syllable words with common spelling patterns (grown, drafting, message). Recognises grammar and punctuation conventions in standard sentences and speech, such as the correct use of verb forms, synonyms, connecting words (however), brackets and apostrophes for contractions (he’s).Solves routine problems using a range of strategies. Demonstrates knowledge of fractions and decimals WRKXQGUHGWKV&RQWLQXHVQXPEHU and spatial patterns. Uses familiar measures to estimate, calculate and compare area or volume. 5HDGVJUDGXDWHGVFDOHV&RPSDUHV likelihood of outcomes in chance events. Recognises the effect of transformations on 2-D shapes. Uses compass points and angles of turn to interpret maps. Locates clearly stated information in factual and narrative texts to connect ideas and make inferences. ,GHQWL¿HVWKHPHDQLQJRIVRPH unfamiliar words from their context DQG¿QGVNH\LQIRUPDWLRQLQORQJHU texts including those with tables and diagrams.Writes a persuasive text in which paragraphs are used to group like ideas and persuasive devices are used to attempt to convince a UHDGHU&RUUHFWO\SXQFWXDWHVVRPH sentences with both capital letters and full stops. May demonstrate correct use of capitals for names and some other punctuation. &RUUHFWO\VSHOOVPRVWFRPPRQ words.,GHQWL¿HVHUURUVDQGFRUUHFWO\VSHOOV some one- and two-syllable words with common spelling patterns. Recognises grammar and punctuation conventions in standard sentences and speech, such as consistency within sentences, the correct use of verb forms and appropriate order of phrases.Solves problems involving unit fractions, combinations of addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers and number facts to 10 x 10. ,GHQWL¿HVGLYLVLRQDVWKHLQYHUVHRI multiplication. Interprets timetables and calendars and reads time on clocks to the quarter hour. Locates information in tables and graphs. Recognises familiar 2-D shapes after DWUDQVIRUPDWLRQDQGLGHQWL¿HVDOLQH of symmetry. Visualises 3-D objects from different viewpoints. Summary of skills assessedThe skills described in the following table represent those typically assessed in NAPLAN tests for Year 7 students. These skills increase in difficulty from the lowest to the highest band. A student achieving a result in a particular band is likely to have correctly answered questions involving skills in that band and in each band below it. Year 7 Year 7 The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy In May 2013, national literacy and numeracy assessments were administered to students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 throughout Australia. This report shows your child’s achievement in those assessments. The information contained in this report should be considered together with school-based assessments and reports. Literacy AssessmentThe literacy assessment tasks measured student achievement in reading, persuasive writing and language conventions. ReadingStudents were required to read a range of texts similar to those used in Year 7 classrooms and answer questions of varying difficulty to show their understanding of the material. Persuasive WritingStudents were directed to write in response to stimulus material. This writing task required students to generate and organise ideas and demonstrate their skills in vocabulary use, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation. Language ConventionsStudents were required to identify and correct spelling errors and answer multiple-choice questions on aspects of grammar and punctuation. Numeracy AssessmentThe two numeracy assessment tasks measured student achievement across number; algebra, function and pattern; measurement, chance and data; and space. Questions required students to apply mathematical knowledge, skills and understandings in a variety of contexts. A student’s result is shown on an achievement scale for each assessment area. Results across the Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 literacy and numeracy assessments are reported on a scale from Band 1 to Band 10. The achievement scale represents increasing levels of skills and understandings demonstrated in the assessments. Results for Year 7 are reported across the range of Band 4 to Band 9, with Band 5 representing the national minimum standard for this year level. The national average and the range of achievement for Year 7 students are also shown on the scale. Your child’s results are shown on the inside pages of this report. How to read the student report Band 9 Band 8 Band 7 Band 6 Band 5 Band 4 If a student’s result is here, it means the result is well above the expected level of achievement for Year 7 students. Year 7 students with results in Band 4 are below the national minimum standard. The lightly shaded area shows the range of achievement for the middle 60% of Year 7 students in Australia. The triangle shows the national average for Year 7 students. The dot shows an individual student’s result. B This report shows the results for Student Report 2013 National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy Student Report 2013 SAMPLE ONLY

8 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Sample student report — Pages 2 and 3 Pages 2 and 3 are illustrated below. They show: • the student’s results for each assessment area on an achievement scale marked in bands as shown by • the national average for each of the assessment areas, as shown by • whether a student’s achievements fall within the middle 60% of the year level cohort as shown by the shaded area or whether they are at a higher or lower range.( ) ( ) Year 7 Year 7 Student Report 2013Student Report 2013 Reading Persuasive Writing Spelling Numeracy Grammar & Punctuation Language Conventions Students read a range of factual and non-factual texts of increasing length and complexity. Students were assessed on aspects of reading that included: • finding information that is clearly stated or inferred • connecting, interpreting and evaluating ideas in a text • interpreting a character’s attitudes and behaviours • understanding the relationship between events in a text • recognising techniques intended to influence a reader • identifying the main purpose of a text, paragraph, diagram or picture.Students wrote a persuasive text and were assessed on aspects that included: • supporting the reader and understanding the purpose of their writing • structuring a persuasive text, developing ideas and points of argument, and making effective word choices • using the conventions of written language such as grammar, punctuation, spelling and paragraphs.Students were assessed on aspects of numeracy. They were allowed to use a calculator for part of the assessment. Tasks included: • interpreting and solving problems involving decimals and fractions • solving rate problems • using equations to solve problems • using tables and graphs with multiple data sets • using geometric properties of quadrilaterals and triangles • solving problems involving 2-D shapes and 3-D objects • calculating angle size. Students were assessed on aspects of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Tasks included: • correctly spelling multi-syllable words with common and difficult spelling patterns • identifying errors and then correctly spelling words with common and difficult spelling patterns • identifying examples of correct grammar usage • recognising the correct use of a range of punctuation, including some less frequently used. KEY Range of achievement for the middle 60% of Year 7 students in Australia National average Individual student result KEY Range of achievement for the middle 60% of Year 7 students in Australia National average Individual student result Band 9 Band 8 Band 7 Band 6 Band 5 Band 4 Band 9 Band 8 Band 7 Band 6 Band 5 Band 4 Band 9 Band 8 Band 7 Band 6 Band 5 Band 4Band 9 Band 8 Band 7 Band 6 Band 5 Band 4 SAMPLE ONLY

| 9 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Reading the class report Class reports are available on the secure section of the QSA website until 7 March 2014 (www.qsa.qld.edu.au/qsa.secure/QSAlogin.do). Schools should download and save these files to the school network. Copies of the reports should be made available to class teachers and the files kept for future reference. The class reports give the following information for each test question: • a summary of each student’s response to each question • the performance of the class as a whole • the performance of boys • the performance of girls • the performance of the state cohort. For each student, the reports give a scale score for each assessment area. (Note: There is a single scale score for Numeracy, but separate scale scores for all areas of Literacy.) The achievement band for each student for the assessment area is also shown. For each question, the class reports enable comparison of: • the overall performance of the class and state cohort • boys and girls within the class • groups and the state cohort. Electronic copies of reports are provided on the QSA’s secure website in two formats: PDF and CSV. The PDF contains the official results for each school. The raw data is provided in CSV format to allow schools to organise the data for internal school purposes and to populate the QSA data analysis tool, SunLANDA, which is available for download from the QSA website. Samples of the class reports are provided on the following pages. Question descriptions and results In this handbook, information for each test question is provided for teachers to use together with the class reports. This information is provided to help teachers interpret the results for their class and to provide some insights into the results for the entire Queensland cohort. For all reading, spelling and numeracy questions a description of the question, the answer and the percentage of students who answered the question correctly, both in Queensland and nationally, is provided. For the Writing test, annotated samples of writing scripts are provided to demonstrate how the marking rubric was applied. Teachers may wish to refer to these when interpreting their own students’ writing scripts. Scanned images of students’ writing will be available on the QSA website until 30 November 2013. They are available from the same page as the class reports. Schools should download these if they wish to keep them for future reference. SunLANDA Schools can use the QSA’s literacy and numeracy data analysis tool, SunLANDA, to analyse the data from their students’ performances on the NAPLAN tests. The program has been designed to be used by classroom teachers and school administrators.

10 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Sample class report — Reading  National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2013 Class Report — Year 7 Reading Class A — Sample School (0000)    Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Scale Achievement Key B C ADDAAABDADCCBBDCDDCDBACCWRDDBCABD C CBAACADCACDACBB score1 band2 LastName, FirstName AADCBACDAAABABABAABDDABCDDBDCBBC 461 5 LastName, FirstName DBDAB  CDCBAABA 608 8 LastName, FirstName DCCCCCBDCCBDACB BCDCCCCDCBBCBDADC 453 5 LastName, FirstName ........................................................................................... Absent for Reading.............................................................................. ................. ......... LastName, FirstName DDCDAB BCCACCDDADBBA 551 7 LastName, FirstName DBCBCCADADCDABADBDCBDADCB ABBDDCABBD 428 5 LastName, FirstName CDBCDDDBDCBBBCACBABBDADBDBADBDBCAAC 428 5 LastName, FirstName CDBBDBBDBDAADADDDBDBBDA 529 6 LastName, FirstName BDBBBCBDCBBBDCAABBCABAB A BCBABBBBBAC 428 5 LastName, FirstName ACCDDABABABADBBDBCCADDCAACCADDCD 453 5 LastName, FirstName DACDDACA BACADCC DABCADDAAD 507 6 LastName, FirstName AADCBCCCBABCDCBBAABDA – CACCCA D ADCBDBCBBBCCA 366

| 11 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Sample class report — Writing  National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2013 Class Report — Year 9 Writing Class A — Sample School (0000)    Item Audience Text Structure Ideas Persuasive Devices Vocabulary Cohesion Paragraphing Sentence Structure Punctuation Spelling Scale Achievement Key See2013 Test Reporting Handbook score1 band2 LastName, FirstName 423 2 32 1 2 24 489 6 LastName, FirstName 433 3 33 2 4 35 583 8 LastName, FirstName 433 2 23 1 4 24 523 6 LastName, FirstName 333 2 32 1 4 34 523 6 LastName, FirstName 323 1 32 2 4 34 512 6 LastName, FirstName 333 2 22 1 2 22 453 5 LastName, FirstName 434 3 33 2 4 44 595 8 LastName, FirstName 433 3 33 2 5 34 583 8 LastName, FirstName 433 3 23 2 3 34 546 7 LastName, FirstName 433 3 33 2 4 34 570 7 LastName, FirstName 112 1 21 1 2 23 374

12 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Sample class report — Numeracy *For Years 7 and 9, there is a single scale score for Numeracy. Trend graphs Trend graphs will be available from late October 2013. These will indicate how students in the various year level cohorts performed in the five different NAPLAN assessment areas, year by year, since 2002. Students’ raw scores for each test are transferred to a scale that allows comparisons to be made between assessment areas, from year to year and with the state mean. The use of average normalised scale scores also means that NAPLAN performance data may be compared with Queensland Years 3, 5 and 7 Literacy and Numeracy Tests performance data.  National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2013 Class Report — Year 7 Numeracy (non-calculator) Class A — Sample School (0000)    Strand 1 S S A N N S MN A S M SMNNNN A MN A S M S NM M M A A N M Numeracy Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Scale Achievement Key A Jack C A E D C D B A C B B C C B D 10 C B A B 24 15 A D 42 60 D 20 63 12 score2 band3 LastName, FirstName DBBADABDC 1 BCC20 5 B C 44 20 C 10 45 12400 451 5 LastName, FirstName  BABD  C22 5 B A 12 12 C 16 49 2.5 551 7 LastName, FirstName DCBBCDDDBA16.10 ABD 23 5 C21 18 C 3 49 2900 476 5 LastName, FirstName .................................................................................... Absent for Numeracy (non-calculator)........................................................................ ................. ......... LastName, FirstName    DB C C 3.5 D A E C 21 5 D A 28 17 B 24 301 25000 536 7 LastName, FirstName D RajC  DA34.25 D DC12 5B 20 6 C 24 138 1500 504 6 LastName, FirstName  ABDBBCDCC20 7A 3 30 A 24 49 2.900 530 7 LastName, FirstName  C    ADC 6.25CCC5B30 23 B 14 64 6000 541 7 LastName, FirstName DBBACB A DCD E C .210 ADC 26 5 BB 30 20A30 1.00 422 4 LastName, FirstName BCABBCDDDB E B 1.00 A DC 19 5 C B 30 3910 9 1600 422 4 LastName, FirstName  ABCCB B ACBEA3AD12 5 B B 110 15 A 8 441 2500 464 5 LastName, FirstName  CBDAB A DB B E B 3.5 A D D C 6cm 5 C AUK C 5 21 500 445 5 LastName, FirstName ................................................................................... Exempt for Numeracy (non-calculator)....................................................................... — — LastName, FirstName –BA  BC 1.0CBC18 21 A – 37 2.5 541 7 LastName, FirstName  CAB122CA 14A24 49 24 589 8 LastName, FirstName .............................................................................. Parent Withdrawn for Numeracy (non-calculator)................................................................... ................. ......... LastName, FirstName  CBAA A B E C 37.5 D C C C 4 5 C20 C 24 241 2500 493 6 LastName, FirstName BoB D B CBCABDCADAACC12 5B 28 18 A 31 155 25 430 5 LastName, FirstName BBABBCB A DABAE6ACD 12 5 B B 10 21 A 5 9 8 414 4 LastName, FirstName chris         fiveA4023C47.6 2.5 631 8 LastName, FirstName  CDDADBDC–ADD19 B B 43 220 A – 27 11500 464 5 LastName, FirstName  DB A DDA3.5 AA18 5 DA28 2– C 14 49 2.500 504 6 LastName, FirstName  BADBC 7.35DBA540 20 B 16 60 5 551 7 LastName, FirstName         ACB5400 20 B 16 140 116 578 7 LastName, FirstName DABBBBDDBCD C 22 5 C A 30 32 A 24 100 0.500 499 6 % correct: Class 86 86 68 82 55 82 50 50 41 50 68 45 36 59 27 41 36 27 36 36 45 27 27 9 32 27 5 5 5 5 0 0 Range of scale scores % correct: Class — Boys 83 83 100 100 67 100 67 50 50 50 100 67 50 50 50 67 50 67 50 50 50 50 33 0 50 50 17 0 0 17 0 0 in Queensland % correct: Class — Girls 88 88 56 75 50 75 44 50 38 50 56 38 31 63 19 31 31 13 31 31 44 19 25 13 25 19 0 6 6 0 0 0 Lowest 193 % correct: Queensland 96 94 82 84 71 78 72 62 58 63 65 60 45 57 48 42 46 55 46 44 48 35 39 25 37 27 10 15 13 23 9 5 Highest 900                                                            !            "    #            $     $         %     "        " Page1of1 How each Numeracy question was answered by each student. This section of the class report gives the scale score for each student in Numeracy and the range of scale scores for the relevant Year

| 13 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Reading the school report School reports are available on the secure section of the QSA website until 7 March 2014. It is recommended that schools download and save copies of school and class reports to the school network for school use and future reference. The reports should be made available to class teachers. The school reports contain a school summary and shows student performance on the tests. Below is a sample of a school report.  National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 2013 School Report — Year 7 Reading Sample School (0000)        +n                             State mean School mean                            2                             !"           1    #$% & #$%& #$%& #$%& #$%&                                         < 130130 230 330 430 530 630 730 830 > 870 ●● ● ● ●●●● ●●●● ●●●●●●● ●●● ●● ●● ●●● ●● ●● ● ● ● ● ●● ●●●●● ●● ● ● ●● ● ●●● ●● ●● ● ● ●● ●●● ● ● ● ● ●● ●●● ● ●● ● ● ●● ● ●    !"# !$% !"& !$' !&$   ('! (') ('% ('! !"* 1 !" #    $     %          $   & '             2  ' ! #        $' ())      !"  )  *!      The reports give performance information for: • the whole school • boys • girls • students from a language background other than English (LBOTE) • students from an Indigenous background. The school reports contain results for each of the assessments for each Year level and for the whole school. The shaded band represents the results of the middle 60% of students. School means State means Distribution of students across the achievement bands for the school and the state, including the number of students below the minimum standard.

14 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Test results and key messages Writing — Years 3, 5, 7, 9 Key messages for teachers About the task All year levels were given the same prompt and the same spoken instructions. Teachers read the text on the stimulus page aloud to the students. No discussion of the task was allowed. Working independently, students had to plan, draft and edit a written response. They had 5 minutes to plan, 30 minutes to write their script and 5 minutes to edit and complete their writing. They were given a maximum of three pages on which to write their response. This year the prompt was constructed without supporting images that might tempt students to write a ‘tour of the stimulus’. The wording was also changed to remove the suggestion that students view the topic from both sides; although they could still use this rhetorical technique if they desired. The prompt gave clear guidelines about the basic structural elements of the writing: an introduction, a body and conclusion. Within this structure, there were no prescribed methods for developing these elements. The prompt also provided students with a writing checklist. A hero is someone you admire. Choose a hero who you think deserves an award. The person you choose could be someone from your family or community or could be someone well-known to everyone. The person may be young or old, male or female. Write to convince a reader why the person you have chosen is special and should be given an award. s 3TARTWITHANINTRODUCTION An introduction lets a reader know what you are going to write about. s 7RITEYOUROPINIONONTHETOPIC Give reasons for your opinion. Explain your reasons. s &INISHWITHACONCLUSION A conclusion sums up your reasons so that a reader is convinced of your opinion. 2EMEMBERTO s plan your writing s use paragraphs to organise your ideas s write in sentences s choose your words carefully to convince a reader of your opinion s pay attention to your spelling and punctuation s check and edit your writing so it is clear. © ACARA 2013

| 15 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Markers were trained using the national persuasive writing training package. This ensured that markers applied the 10 criteria and their related standards consistently across Australia. The NAPLAN Persuasive writing marking guide is available at www.nap.edu.au/NAPLAN/About_each_domain/Writing/index.html. Performance Broadly, the open-ended topic for 2013, Hero Award, and removal of the images from the stimulus page, appears to have allowed more students to engage with the task and write more openly about people they were well- acquainted with, and for whom they had genuine feelings and opinions. By engaging with the topic, students were in a better position to demonstrate how well they could write. Writing was assessed according to how well students persuaded the reader as to the heroic qualities of their respective nominee and controlled textual features of their writing. In general, students from Years 3 and 5 could grasp the concept of ‘hero’ as someone worthy of admiration and consequently, an award. A few younger students struggled with this concept. Typical subjects for awards were family members, such as a parent (the Mother’s Day factor no doubt playing some role here) or relative. Domestic duties and responsibilities figured highly in the reasons for writers’ appreciation. Younger students wrote compassionately about their heroes’ qualities. When the younger students reached out beyond familial heroes into the realm of sporting identities or community services, the focus tended to be on the impact of the ‘good work’ by these people and the subsequent impact on the writers’ lives, e.g. If your house is burning, they will come and save you and put the fire out. Textually, the ‘firstly, secondly, thirdly’ argument was still adopted by many Year 3 and 5 students, even to the point where structural headings appeared on the page (Argument 1 etc.). Younger writers also tended to make assertions about what their heroes did, and sometimes supported this with evidence. Because of the adherence to the ‘five paragraph essay’, ideas were sometimes disconnected (Dad takes me fishing, Dad gets money for us, and Dad drives me to sport), creating issues around cohesion and the development of ideas. While this approach usually enabled students to write five sentences or more, the structure was an impediment to effective paragraphing. Most Year 3 students and some Year 5 students used only basic sentence structures. More able Year 5 students made greater use of complex sentences, enhancing and elaborating on their argument. Many students from Years 7 and 9 also selected family members as heroes in their writing. As expected, these responses were generally deeper in scope, elaborating on attributes of their respective heroes while appealing to the reader’s values and emotions. Sporting heroes and historical, religious, entertainment and political figures (some drawn from the school curriculum) also received guernseys. In some more sophisticated responses, students were able to share with the reader the broader qualities of what it is to be a hero then demonstrate how these qualities evidence themselves in the life and actions of their nominated hero. The topic for 2013 provided students with more scope to tackle these types of ‘big ideas’, and in general, subject matter and approach were both enhanced compared to the two previous persuasive writing tests. Some Year 7 and 9 students wrote in a less formulaic way. The absence of visuals on the stimulus no doubt contributed to this. The ‘five paragraph essay’ in persuasive writing was still evident, though less stultifying than previously. The open-ended nature of the task this year assisted in varying both subject and form. Higher-end responses incorporated tonal techniques such as humour and compassion. Added to this was an improvement in the cohesiveness of texts, with generally stronger paragraphing and linkages between paragraphs by older students. While selecting a highly personal topic such as ‘mum’, some students were still able to demonstrate their knowledge and use of higher level vocabulary. Some students were able to develop their essay about an everyday person around deeper or more global themes such as compassion or humanity, giving themselves an opportunity to demonstrate their power with words. Some students still persisted with over-use or inappropriate use of strengthening adjectives which do little to enhance the writing or the vocabulary score. Markers reported the need to continuously improve students’ skills in grammar, punctuation and spelling. Weaknesses in sentence level grammar, and predominantly phonetic approaches to spelling were identified as areas of concern by the marking pool. Implications for teaching A very important aspect of writing is to understand the task. The purpose for writing guides the genre for a text. This will be very important for the 2014 NAPLAN Writing task as ACARA has stated that students will be required to write either a narrative or a persuasive text. The stimulus will make clear which genre is required. The stimulus also defines the parameters of the subject to be written about. Students need a way of planning that helps them quickly

16 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook consider what aspects of the topic they know about and how they can best develop this. Students need different planning models to suit the different purposes they may have for writing about a topic. An example of a lesson sequence for teaching different models in Years 7–9 can be found on the Hidden World stimulus on the QSA website. Year 3 students may benefit from learning how to link related ideas after they brainstorm, rather than treating every idea as unique. By linking ideas they may be able to provide more elaboration to develop a few bigger ideas more effectively. As students become competent at clustering their ideas, the teacher can model different ways to plan for writing, e.g. explore a list of reasons for a position; compare and contrast the different aspects of an argument; explain a problem and provide a solution; describe the outcome or effect caused by particular ways of dealing with an issue or problem. The Australian Curriculum: English outlines the Sentence and clause level grammar students need to be taught at each year level. The Scope and sequence for this learning area describes: what a clause is and how simple, compound and complex sentences are constructed through one clause (simple) or by combining clauses using different types of conjunctions (compound and complex). To expand students’ understanding of sentence structure, this curriculum document can form the basis for the systematic introduction of sentence structure in teaching programs across a school. For example, by the end of Year 1 students need to understand what a sentence is. By the end of Year 2 they know how to link clauses using conjunctions and at Year 3 students develop understanding of clauses and subject verb agreement. By Year 7 students need to study more complex clause structures and how authors pack information into sentences to make them lexically dense. Systematic study of word-level grammar and vocabulary described in the Australian Curriculum: English Scope and sequence document would assist students to understand more about the grammar of the texts they write and the choices they can make to improve their writing. Markers noted a growing tendency for students to spell using only sound/symbol knowledge rather than also using knowledge of derivation, syllables and meaning. The QSA document Queensland’s literacy test: A framework for describing spelling items describes levels of development in spelling and the layers of knowledge spellers need as they spell words. This document may provide a useful framework for monitoring student spelling knowledge. References Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2013) Australian Curriculum: English www.australiancurriculum.edu.au Queensland Studies Authority (2013) Hidden worlds www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/3579_wt_hidden_worlds.pdf Queensland Studies Authority (2011) Queensland’s literacy test: A framework for describing spelling items www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/3579_describing_spell_items.pdf

| 17 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Year 3 Literacy — Language conventions Spelling — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the spelling component of the Year 3 Language conventions test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description Proofreading — error not identified 1B stars (starz)92.3 92.5 Identifies an error in a word with the inflectional ending -s. 2C pretty (pritty)89.3 88.5Identifies an error in a multisyllable word where the short vowel is represented by -e. 3A pick (pik)87.4 87.4Identifies an error in a word where the digraph -ck follows a short vowel. Proofreading — error identified 4yellow (yello)79.3 77.8 Correctly spells a multisyllable word ending with -ow. 5shopping (shoping)74.1 72.3Correctly spells a multisyllable word requiring doubling of the final consonant before the inflectional ending -ing. 6leaf (leef)67.8 69.2 Correctly spells a word with the long vowel digraph -ea. 7bear (bare)64.2 68.6Correctly spells a homophone requiring the discrimination between -ear and -are. 8winner (winnor)64.2 65.9Correctly spells a multisyllable word requiring doubling of the final consonant before the inflectional ending -er. 9flower (flour)59.8 63.0Correctly spells a multisyllable homophone requiring the discrimination between -ou and -ow. 10neatly (neatley)48.4 51.1Correctly spells a multisyllable word where the adverb forming suffix -ly is added without change to the base word. 11bowl (bole)37.1 43.6 Correctly spells a word with the digraph -ow. 12parrot (parret)23.2 29.1Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the schwa -o in the final unstressed syllable. 13popular (populer)20.3 24.5 Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the ending -ar. 14loose (luse)22.7 27.2 Correctly spells a word with the long vowel digraph -oo.

18 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Key messages for teachers About the test This test comprised 25 items made up of three sets of different item types. In each set the difficulty of items gradually increased. In the first set, students were required to identify a spelling mistake (items 1–3). Around 90% of Australian students were able to correctly identify the words containing errors. In the second set of items, students were asked to correct the spelling of an already identified error (items 4–14). The third set of items was more challenging as it required students to identify a mistake and then spell the word correctly (items 15–25). A comparison of the results for two words with a similar pattern in the 2012 and 2013 tests demonstrates the difference in difficulty between items where errors were identified, as they are in the second set, and unidentified, as they are in the third set. In 2012, only 14.8% of students spelt the word actor correctly. In 2013, a word with a similar pattern, winner, which appeared in the error-unidentified part of the test, was spelt correctly by 64% of Queensland students. This difference in performance between the two forms of items is not unusual. It signals the need for students to be taught how to apply their spelling knowledge to proofreading as it is a different and more sophisticated skill. Performance Queensland’s performance was consistent with the national result in the first set of items. These one-step error identification items required knowledge of how to spell the plural ending -s, the short vowel -e and final k sound, which is usually spelt with the digraph -ck in words with a short vowel. Proofreading — error not identified 15white (wite)54.3 59.7Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word beginning with the consonant digraph wh-. 16wise (wyse)46.6 51.4Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the long vowel pattern -i _e. 17movement (movment)47.1 52.5Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where addition of a suffix requires no change to the base word. 18waited (wayted)33.2 38.0Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the long vowel pattern -ai. 19glitter (gliter)36.2 41.4Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the doublet -tt at the syllable juncture. 20kindness (kindnes)35.5 41.9Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the suffix -ness. 21healthy (helthy)33.5 36.1Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the short vowel spelt -ea. 22battery (battary)26.5 32.7Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with an unstressed vowel -er in the second syllable. 23daily (dayly)17.8 22.5Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the long vowel is spelt -ai. 24sneeze (sneese)15.7 17.3Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with -z followed by -e. 25technology (tecknology)6.8 9.7 Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word derived from the Greek word tekhno where the ch represents the -k sound. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

| 19 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 The second and third sets of items tested aspects of spelling such as the coding of vowels, sometimes in unstressed syllables, the adding of suffixes and the spelling of common homophones such as bear and flower. These elements are a major teaching focus in Years 2 and 3. The results support what teachers know — that most students are still developing this knowledge. Queensland students performed well on the first of the error-identified items (yellow) and the other word with a common long vowel pattern (leaf). Performance shows these kinds of patterns are more challenging when they are in multisyllable words or are in homophones such as in flower and bear where decisions about meaning dictate the vowel patterns. While more than half of Queensland students were able to successfully spell the homophones bear and flower, students struggled to spell loose correctly, with 20% of students instead writing the near homophone lose. About half of Queensland Year 3 students demonstrated that they could add suffixes to base words (shopping, winner, neatly). In the error-unidentified items, which target knowledge of suffixes, i.e. the spelling of movement and kindness, the results and the error patterns showed some of the aspects of adding suffixes that challenge students. For example, in spelling movement, students needed to know that no e-drop was needed in the base word because it follows a -v — 47% of Queensland students knew this. Analysis of the common errors suggested some Queensland students were unable to make efficient use of the contextual information provided by the sentence. Students also struggled to spell bowl (item 11). They appeared not to recognise the target word, producing phonetic errors. Students need to be testwise enough to know that the circled, identified word is wrong and that they should not reproduce it as a correct answer. In alI but one of the error-identified items, the target word was one of the five most common errors. Students should use proofreading strategies to deconstruct the words to check the parts. For example, in checking the spelling of wayted, they should be able to recognise that this word is wait+ed. They should then check the spelling of each part and if necessary the conventions for adding the inflectional ending. The error patterns suggest that students were unable to do this. Instead, they appear to have tried to correct the spelling by using letter-to-sound matching — 12% of students wrote wated, a further 4% wrote wayed. In an interesting twist of performance, more boys (8%) than girls (5%) were able to spell the word technology. Implications for teaching Year 3 students need to move beyond the strategy of mapping sounds to letters. They need to develop problem- solving strategies for learning and monitoring their spelling as well as for use in proofreading. As students learn about the coding of long vowels, they need to learn about the sequencing of these letter patterns, the positions in which they occur and the probability with which they occur. For example, in correcting the error in waited, students should know that while ay is highly likely to occur at the end of a word such as way, it is not likely to be used to spell the vowel sound in the middle of a word such as wait and that they should check to see if one of the two most common patterns for spelling this sound, ai or a_e, should be used instead. Year 3 students need to be overtly taught about the influence of meaning on spelling. It is important that they develop the key understanding that words with similar meaning will maintain that spelling even if the pronunciation changes and words with a different spelling, even if they sound the same, will have a different meaning. The knowledge that students develop as they explore homophones provides the foundation on which understanding of the meaning layer can be built. The conventions for adding inflectional endings and other suffixes is a key teaching point. The convention for doubling is of critical importance as it is one that will help students understand syllable patterns. It is also the one they find most difficult. Although 74% of the Queensland students correctly spelt shopping, none of the five most common errors showed evidence that students who were unable to spell it understood the conventions for doubling. Similarly in item 19, glitter (36%), where a doublet is required at the syllable juncture, none of the five most common error patterns showed evidence of a doublet. The ability to apply spelling knowledge to proofreading is a sophisticated activity. Students must be able to draw on their knowledge about the spelling system in an organised and strategic way. Performance on the third set of items (error-unidentified) shows how difficult this is. Students need support to develop their proofreading abilities through focused and direct teaching. This knowledge can be built by using learning strategies such as Look-Cover- Write-Check, or the BEE keys which ask students to observe, remember and use specific word features such as sequence, frequency and position of letters. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA materials are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

20 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Grammar and punctuation — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Grammar and punctuation component of the Year 3 Language conventions test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description 26 A 90.8 90.9 Identifies the correct preposition to introduce a prepositional phrase. 27 B 90.6 90.5Identifies the conjunction that best signals the intended logical relations between two clauses in a compound sentence. 28 A 84.9 86.1 Identifies the indefinite article before a noun. 29 A 82.5 84.3 Identifies the correct form of a verb in the present tense. 30 C 80.7 81.6Identifies the relative pronoun needed to introduce an adjectival clause in a complex sentence. 31 B 61.7 61.4 Identifies the function of an adverb in a complex sentence. 32 A 81.5 83.9 Identifies the pronoun representing the subject of a clause. 33 C 72.2 74.4 Identifies the appropriate modal auxiliary to suggest certainty. 34 A 72.0 71.0 Identifies the correct position for an apostrophe of contraction. 35 C 69.3 65.8 Identifies the correctly punctuated contraction. 36 D 60.5 67.3 Identifies the preposition to complete a phrasal verb. 37 B 61.0 61.1 Identifies the noun in a simple sentence. 38 D 46.2 49.0 Identifies the correct punctuation of quotation marks. 39 C 59.7 60.6Identifies the correct sentence boundary punctuation between two simple sentences. 40 D 58.2 61.2 Identifies the correct auxiliary verb in a simple sentence. 41 D 51.6 55.9Identifies the correct pronoun and word order for a compound subject in a simple sentence. 42 D 52.9 52.3 Identifies correct sentence boundary punctuation. 43 B 44.0 47.2 Identifies a simple sentence. 44 A 39.5 41.1 Identifies the correct use of commas in a list. 45 B 41.8 44.3 Identifies the correct tense for a verb in a simple sentence. 46 C 42.6 46.7Identifies a sentence which correctly combines information from two sentences. 47 D 25.8 28.6 Identifies the correct use of capital letters for proper nouns. 48 D 35.4 39.5 Identifies an adverb of time in a complex sentence. 49 C 30.9 30.5 Identifies the correct punctuation of indirect speech. 50 B 22.9 25.7Identifies the correct use of a superlative adjective in a simple sentence. 51 B 23.9 25.2Identifies the correct use of an apostrophe of contraction in a simple sentence.

| 21 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Key messages for teachers About the test The 2013 Year 3 Language conventions test consisted of 26 questions — 17 grammar and 9 punctuation. The grammar questions assessed aspects of knowledge at the word, group, clause and sentence levels. These appeared in the latter half of the test as the level of difficulty increased. Punctuation questions were assessed at both sentence and word level punctuation with fewer items assessing sentence boundary punctuation than in 2012. Performance The performance of Queensland students was very similar to that across the nation. In grammar, Year 3 students across Australia excelled at items which focused on knowledge of prepositional phrases, conjunctions and indefinite articles. Queensland students also compared well on items which required knowledge of pronouns. In item 30, students needed to select the correct relative pronoun (This is the girl who won the bicycle race) and in item 32, students needed to select the pronoun which correctly represented the subject (The good weather means that it will be possible to play the game). The majority of students identified the correct pronoun and word order in item 41. The correct use of the relative pronoun is challenging to students at all year levels with significant numbers of students using that to refer to people. So, this is a grammatical feature that would benefit from direct teaching, particularly in the context of writing. On items 29 and 45 students were required to identify correct tense. Performance on the two items shows those aspects that provide a challenge to students in mastering tense. While 82% of students were able to identify the correct form of a verb needed for correct present tense, about half that number were able to identify the correct tense from options that all began with a clear indication of time signalling the use of future tense. At the word level, most students were able to identify the function of an adverb (item 31). In this item, the second most able students, other than those who were correct, selected the word which was an adjective. This may have been as a result of a misreading of the word describes in the question stem. Students found the identification of the correct superlative adjective (item 50) challenging. The item required both close reading and a knowledge of Standard Australian English. A large number of students, including the second most able students, selected most largest as correct. This is possibly because students are still developing control over this language form in their everyday speech. In punctuation, items 39 and 42 asked students to identify the sentence boundaries. Where students were asked to consider both the sentence boundary and internal punctuation as they were in item 38 (an item which required the correct use of quotation marks in direct speech) and item 49 (which required the punctuation of indirect speech) the demands were much more challenging. However, both the Queensland and national results show this is a concept that Year 3 students are ready to learn. Similarly, item 44 (which tested the use of list commas) was challenging to students across Australia. It required students to discriminate when to use commas and when not to — a high-level skill. The facility rate shows that students are ready to learn this concept. At the word level, three items (34, 35 and 51) tested apostrophes of contraction. These items should be analysed together to show those aspects which provide learning challenges. In the first two items, where the students had to identify a correct contraction, the facility rates were around 70%. However, where students were required to use a higher level skill to discriminate between the options to determine the correct use, only about a quarter of students could do this. Students also found the punctuation of proper nouns challenging. Implications for teaching Explicit teaching, which involves contrasting the similarities and differences between Standard Australian English and local usage, would help students develop a richer understanding of language and its use. Being able to discriminate between forms will assist students to comprehend more accurately and to write well. In learning about punctuation, students will benefit from being taught the relationship between punctuation and meaning. Explicit teaching of sentence punctuation, particularly as students begin to read and write more complex sentences, remains an important focus. As students write more complex sentences they can lose their sense of where the boundaries are and need help to identify how and where chunks of meaning should be separated. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA item analyses are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

22 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Writing task sample Year 3

| 23 Queensland Studies Authority 2013

24 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Year 3 Audience 4 The script orients the reader and provides sufficient information for a reader to follow easily. The writer addresses the reader as a separate person with separate interests. She writes about every Mum rather than just her own, and she praises mothers for supporting children’s real and long-term interests, i.e. to have a good life. The writer’s personality emerges through the use of formal language, e.g. certainly rather than really and important rather than great. The tone is lively and positive and there is an engaging quip about needing clothes. Text structure 3 The script organises ideas into the three identifiable components just well enough for a score of 3. The writer knows how to ‘mind map’ ideas and to make a first draft, and is ready to learn how to improve the internal order and structure within the sections and the paragraphs. Ideas 3 Ideas are relevant to persuading that mums deserve an award. The ideas are mainly assertions about how mums help with children’s education, health and home life and about why this is important. Persuasive devices 3 Basic persuasive devices are used. The most effective persuasion in the text comes from the use of language to persuade a reader of the positive qualities of an appropriate nominee, mothers in general. These include emphatic statements (definitely), evaluative adjectives (so, marvellous), conditional statements (If you don’t), modality (everyone should), rhetorical address (Don’t you think?) and the capitalised statement at the end. Vo ca bula r y 3 Precise vocabulary choices include, healthy food, so embarrassing, keeping fresh and happy. There are some choices of formal verbs and adjectives. Cohesion 3 The script is a sustained piece of writing. The use of related words works well, e.g. wear linked to clothes, at night linked to warm bed. The use of repetition, e.g. it is important … is also important, is a learned technique that the student is experimenting with and will be able to develop further. Paragraphing 2 The student attempts a topic sentence in the second and the fourth paragraphs with some success. Sentence structure 3 Most simple, compound and complex sentences are correct. In the second sentence the writer attempts a more sophisticated sentence structure, but a lack of control leads to errors in tense formation (making, make and makes) and preposition choice. A similar tense error occurs in the first sentence of the third paragraph. The writer is developing an understanding of the use of conjunctions that and if. The writer is beginning to understand how to distance herself through the use of sentences beginning with It is. Punctuation 3 All sentence boundary punctuation is correct. There is some other correct punctuation, including use of contractions, commas and a colon in the final sentence. Spelling 5 Eleven difficult words are spelt correctly: deserve, deserves, certainly, important, absolutely, medicine, secondly, healthy, definitely, marvellous, fabulous.

| 25 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Year 3 Literacy — Reading Item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Year 3 Reading test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description Earthworms (Informative) 1 C 91.0 90.7 Locates directly stated information. 2 A 88.1 88.0 Locates directly stated information. 3 C 89.0 88.5 Locates directly stated information. 4 B 79.8 81.6 Makes a synonymous match to answer a literal question. 5 B 87.0 86.7 Identifies the main idea of a simple text. 6 D 70.4 70.9 Summarises the main purpose of a simple text. Eggs (Informative) 7 B 75.5 77.1 Interprets directly stated information. 8 D 75.6 76.4 Locates directly stated information in a label. 9 A 54.0 56.9Interprets the meaning of technical vocabulary using knowledge of a textual feature (brackets). 10 A 63.7 66.6 Integrates information from a diagram label. 11 D 59.9 61.5 Identifies the purpose of a table. 12 A 41.3 44.7 Interprets an image using information from a table. The Story of Thunder and Lightning (Narrative) 13 D 33.6 34.0 Identifies the character’s action. 14 D 37.0 39.1Identifies additional descriptive information provided in brackets. 15 C 51.3 54.5 Infers how characters are portrayed. 16 B 70.1 72.8 Interprets the reason for a character’s action. 17 B 48.0 52.4 Interprets a phrase of time to infer a character’s actions. 18 D 37.9 38.8Interprets figurative language to make a context-based inference. An Interview with Andy Griffiths (Informative) 19 A 71.4 74.5 Locates directly stated information. 20 D 20.9 23.5 Integrates information to make a text-based inference. 21 B 59.6 64.0 Interprets directly stated information. 22 A 54.0 60.6 Infers the relationship between ideas and interprets vocabulary. 23 B 71.6 75.6 Interprets directly stated information. 24 A 40.1 45.1 Infers the purpose of a quotation in an interview.

26 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Key messages for teachers About the test The Year 3 Reading magazine contained six stimulus texts. There were three informative texts: one a report about earthworms, another about eggs and an interview with Andy Griffiths. The two imaginative texts in the Year 3 magazine were both narrative: the first was a Nigerian folktale and the other an excerpt of an event exploring a young indigenous boy’s quest to prove himself. The final text was persuasive, an advertisement for Adopt-a-Dog. After reading each stimulus, students responded to 36 items of which 34 were multiple choice and two constructed response. One constructed response required students to indicate the features of a text using A–E and one item required students to sequence events using the numbers 1–4. Nearly half the items assessed literal comprehension requiring students to match information in the stimulus with the correct option in the question or recognise the match expressed in other words. There were similar numbers of text-based and context-based inferential items throughout the test. To respond to these items, students must use their knowledge of the craft of writing (e.g. plot development, literary techniques, persuasive devices), the features of language (e.g. vocabulary, cohesion, and text structure) and reading strategies (e.g. skimming to locate information, re-reading and reading on). Performance Overall the results indicate that Queensland students performed similarly on most questions to students across Australia. The comprehension of the final stimulus, a persuasive text, was the most difficult nationally, as well as for Queensland students. Queensland students achieved at or close to 90% on literal comprehension questions related to the first text, Earthworms. These items required students to match information in the text with that in the options. However, for literal questions where the students had to recognise the answers that were not a direct match, but translated into other words, the facility rate dropped by 10%. For example, in item 4 the question stem stated, Earthworms use the hairs on their body to … . The correct option was move. Students needed to understand that wriggle in the stimulus meant move in the answer. With the exception of item 33, students performed well on literal questions. Kaiya goes hunting (Narrative) 25 B 45.7 48.9 Interprets the meaning of a word (drone). 26 C 20.4 19.2Integrates information to infer the reasons for a character’s reaction. 27 C 38.4 41.1 Infers the reason for a character’s action. 28 C 47.2 50.0 Infers the reason for a character’s action. 29 D 23.2 23.7 Infers a character’s emotion by interpreting an action. 30 D 21.5 21.9 Identifies the underlying theme of a narrative. Adopt-a-Dog (Persuasive) 31 B, E, A, C, D 20.6 26.2 Identifies structural elements in an advertisement. 32 C 45.7 50.9Integrates textual and contextual information to identify authorship. 33 B 34.1 39.2Locates directly stated information using knowledge of grammar. 34 4, 2, 3, 1 28.1 33.4 Sequences the order of recounted events. 35 D 39.1 43.4 Identifies a persuasive device used in an advertisement. 36 D 18.3 20.2 Identifies the meaning of a quotation containing an idiom. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

| 27 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Item 33, with a facility rate of 39% nationally, was a literal question that required students to match information in the text with that in the answer. It proved to be significantly more difficult than other literal questions on the paper. Students had to skim the text to locate the sentence that was the source of the information. They then needed to understand the relationship between the subject of that sentence (Candy) and the three propositions that followed. The answer was in the second of these. Students had to read on to the next line to locate the answer. Where students were required to read on to locate or link information, facility rates were lower. For example, in item 27, with a facility rate of 38%, students had to locate He stopped … and read on to find the information they needed to infer the reason why a character acted as he did … just long enough to see her walking back home. Vocabulary knowledge and the ability to work out the meaning of new words is important for Year 3 students. Having a vocabulary that is both broad and deep is important for understanding single ideas and information and for making links between ideas. In item 7, students needed to know the meaning of the word popular to link it with the indication of popularity in the stimulus — all over the world. Across Australia, more than three-quarters of the Year 3 students could do this. However, where they had to understand the specific meaning of a word as they did in item 25, students found this more difficult with under half the students able to do this. In item 29, where students needed to understand the connotations of meaning of figurative language, edged backwards, the facility rate was 23%. Implications for teaching Activities that make the students answer questions and locate or justify their responses with references in the text would be useful for improving literal and inferential comprehension. This type of activity may also deter students from answering by using prior knowledge rather than from the information provided in the text. Knowledge of the purpose and structure of texts should help students to access the information contained in them. In particular, students need to learn about the purposes and structures of different diagrams, tables, maps or graphs and the contexts in which they are found. For example, the stimulus Eggs included a picture glossary which showed the relationship between the parts of an egg and introduced new vocabulary. An emphasis on why authors make the vocabulary choices they do will lead to a deeper understanding of texts. Authors of quality texts select vocabulary with precision for their intended purpose. For example, vocabulary can be used to: • describe precisely, e.g. in Earthworms: dark, damp soil • differentiate between specific things (time), e.g. in Eggs: just over a week, about two weeks, over two weeks • provide a connotation of meaning, e.g. in The Story of Thunder and Lightning: rumblings • infer a relationship, e.g. in Kaiya goes hunting: Kaiya sighed • persuade a reader, e.g. in Adopt-a-Dog: fun-loving dog, much-loved pet, perfect pet, each of our furry friends. The ability to answer inferential questions is heavily dependent on vocabulary knowledge. For example, the personality of Andy Griffiths is revealed in his answers through the words he uses to express his ideas. Generally Year 3 students love puns and jokes. Learning to play with words is critical to their understanding of connotative vocabulary. For example, in Adopt-a-dog the author used in two wags of a tail which is a play on the colloquial phrase, two shakes of a lamb’s tail. While this reference may be beyond Year 3 readers, the author actually used the term straightaway and then followed it with this play on words. Also in this text was the play on the word barking where students needed to also understand the term barking mad. Year 3 students need to be explicitly taught to track the cohesive links across texts. This is essential to being able to identify the main idea, make inferences, integrate information as well as to summarise and evaluate texts. Students need to use both the lexical cohesion and the logical links between ideas. These are often signalled by the text connectives or through conjunctions and prepositions. In Eggs, students needed to recognise the precision with which the time connectives about, just over and over were used. Without this understanding students are unable to interpret the information in the table. In the first paragraph of The Story of Thunder and Lightning, the conjunction but is used to indicate that while the mother ram tried to stop her son from damaging the village, he took no notice of her. Students need to learn that prepositions, conjunctions and articles have precise meanings. Pronoun referencing is critical. In narrative texts, it is key to understanding the plot. In other texts, such as Eggs, tracking pronouns is essential to understanding the information provided. For example, using all the cohesive devices makes understanding the new word albumen accessible even for younger readers. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA item analyses are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

28 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Year 3 Numeracy Item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Year 3 Numeracy test. The numeracy strands are abbreviated as follows: Algebra, function and pattern (AFP); Measurement, chance and data (MCD); Number (N); Space (S). All items are worth one score point. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Strand Answer Qld% Aust% Description 1 N B 94.7 92.0Interprets a pictorial representation of a 3-digit number. 2 S B 87.3 87.7 Locates a position on an alphanumeric grid. 3 S A 85.8 84.6Identifies a common object as being most like a cylinder. 4 AFP 56 91.7 91.1Interprets a partially completed number chart to identify a missing number. 5 MCD D 84.7 86.1Identifies the shape with the largest area from a set of shapes on a triangular grid. 6 MCD C 83.7 81.6 Interprets tally marks to identify a number. 7 MCD B 68.5 69.3 Visually compares and orders lengths. 8 S C 86.3 87.7 Recognises a geometric property of a triangle. 9 N D 79.1 81.1 Calculates the total of two amounts of money. 10 S C 70.4 71.6 Identifies the next term in a repeating shape pattern. 11 MCD D 69.1 68.6 Reads an analogue clock to the half hour. 12 N C 62.2 65.9 Identifies a shape that is one-quarter shaded. 13 MCD A 64.8 61.1Selects the spinner most likely to give a specified outcome. 14 N A 59.8 62.5 Solves a multistep division problem. 15 SD and G or G and D61.5 63.3Identifies specific faces after visually rotating a 3-D model. 16 AFP 35 48.2 53.3Calculates the missing addend in a subtraction problem. 17 N C 50.2 52.1 Counts a collection and identifies half. 18 MCD B 52.4 56.3Evaluates the likelihood of an outcome of a given event. 19 N B 53.8 56.5Solves a word problem by reasoning which number falls within a given range. 20 N D 49.9 52.6Calculates and compares the totals of amounts of money. 21 S A 39.6 48.0 Identifies the shape that is not symmetrical.

| 29 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 22 MCD D 38.9 40.8Calculates the difference between two values displayed on a many-to-one pictograph. 23 S D 49.5 41.5 Identifies the number of edges on a hexagonal prism. 24 N A 36.2 41.3 Solves a subtraction problem involving regrouping. 25 MCD C 37.4 39.1Solves a measurement problem involving the interpretation of a ruler and subtraction. 26 MCD A 31.7 33.0 Uses a calendar to determine the date of an event. 27 AFP D 32.3 33.7 Solves a word problem involving inverse relationships. 28 N 1500 12.3 15.9Calculates the solution to a word problem involving multiplicative thinking. 29 S B 27.9 31.5 Identifies the reflected image of a complex design. 30 S 4 24.9 25.7Calculates the number of rectangles that can be cut from an irregular shape. 31 S C 42.8 45.1Identifies the result of folding a rectangle along its diagonal. 32 N 33 8.0 12.6Solves a problem involving the difference between two pay rates. 33 N 11 3.7 4.8Solves a money problem involving subtraction and division. 34 S 72 3.8 5.8Interprets a visual representation of a 3-D object to solve a problem involving edges. 35 MCD 5.30 3.2 4.9Interprets a column graph to calculate the total value of the number of coins represented. Item no. Strand Answer Qld% Aust% Description

30 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Key messages for teachers About the test The Year 3 Numeracy test consisted of 35 items from the four strands of Numeracy. The test is constructed to assess a range of abilities with a graduation from straightforward items at the start through to the more demanding ones at the end of the paper. On the previous table the number of students who answered the items correctly is expressed as a percentage and referred to as a facility rate. These rates can be used to gauge the relative difficulty of items on the paper. Teachers can compare the facility rates of Queensland students to the facility rates in the provisional National results. This year facility rates for items ranged from around 95% to 3% with 21 items answered correctly by 50% or more of Queensland students. Most Year 3 students attempted all the items. Performance This year over 90% of Queensland Year 3 students were able to interpret representations of 3-digit numbers and find missing values in hundreds charts. More than 85% could compare areas and interpret tally marks, and 80–85% could recognise a cylinder, identify spatial properties of 2-D shapes and use an alphanumeric grid. Queensland students performed better than the national results in the areas of chance and space. For chance (item 13), about 65% of students were able to identify the spinner most likely to land on black, compared to 61% nationally and for space (item 23), nearly 50% of Queensland students were able to recognise the number of edges on a hexagonal prism, compared to only 42% nationally. There were only three questions where the facility rates of Queensland students were 5% lower than the national data. These items involved subtraction, recognising symmetry and solving word problems. Two items (16 and 24), tested subtraction. These two items were not written word problems but expressed completely in numbers. For item 16, students were required to calculate the minuend (starting number) using the given total and the addend. Approximately 48% of Queensland students answered this item correctly compared to 53% nationally. Common incorrect responses suggest that 11% of students simply subtracted the two numbers shown. This type of item has been tested previously with results of 30% in 2012 and 25% in 2011. The other subtraction (item 24), was answered correctly by 36% of Queensland students and 41% nationally. Results show that many of the second most able group, after the students who answered correctly, did not regroup to subtract, they incorrectly reversed the numbers to avoid regrouping. This type of error is common when students are learning decomposition subtraction. It can be addressed through greater experience with concrete materials. Item 21 involved identifying a design based on a smiley face that was not symmetrical. This item had a facility rate of 39% for Queensland compared to 48% nationally. Results suggest that a majority of Queensland students were attracted to the distracter that showed a sad face. However, further analysis of incorrect responses showed that the second most able group, after those who answered correctly, chose the only face that included a nose. This represented 11% of the Year 3 students. Sometimes it is more common to look for a particular feature rather than a feature that is not there. These types of ‘not’ questions can increase the difficulty for younger students. Teachers can include these types of questions in games when describing shapes and objects, for example, find a shape block that is not a square. The last few items on this year’s paper were challenging written problems, particularly the last three items with less than 6% of students both in Queensland and nationally able to provide a correct result. These items required multiple steps and a range of numeracy skills and it is important that teachers try to incorporate them in classroom experiences to extend their more able students. Implications for teaching Teachers wanting to use the state NAPLAN data to interpret their own data should look at how students have performed against the state and national facility rates. On this basis, teachers of Year 3 students may wish to focus learning experiences on the recognition of symmetry in the environment and develop skills in describing what features are missing from images and designs. They may wish to review the understanding of subtraction and how well their students use decomposition as a subtraction strategy. There is also some evidence that relating addition to subtraction would also assist with missing addend problems. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. Additionally, SunLANDA materials are available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

| 31 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Year 5 Literacy — Language conventions Spelling — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Spelling component of the Year 5 Language conventions test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description Proofreading — error identified 1handball (hanball)95.3 93.7Correctly spells a compound word where the first word ends in -nd. 2blood (blud)78.3 78.1 Correctly spells a word with the short vowel digraph -oo. 3neatly (neatley)74.5 73.0Correctly spells a multisyllable word where the adverb forming suffix -ly is added without change to the base word. 4pocket (pockit)76.3 76.0 Correctly spells a two-syllable word with the ending -et. 5chocolate (choclate)62.8 67.9Correctly spells a multisyllable word with an unstressed syllable -o. 6thirsty (thersty)58.4 59.4Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the r-influenced vowel -ir. 7sample (sampel)61.2 61.6 Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the ending -le. 8loose (luse)62.8 59.5 Correctly spells a word with the long vowel digraph -oo. 9reliable (relyable)48.2 44.4Correctly spells a multisyllable word where the suffix -able is added with a change to the base word (y to i). 10stretch (strech)45.2 44.9Correctly spells a word ending with the consonant trigraph -tch. 11groceries (growceries)27.3 30.8Correctly spells a multisyllable word with an open first syllable ending in the long vowel -o. 12anticipate (antisipate)13.2 15.3Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the soft consonant -c. Proofreading — error not identified 13wise (wyse)77.1 78.6 Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the long vowel pattern -i _e. 14waited (wayted)64.9 65.2Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the long vowel pattern -ai. 15wonderful (wonderfull)56.3 58.0Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the suffix -ful is added without a change. 16glitter (gliter)53.7 57.6Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the doublet -tt at the syllable juncture. 17boxes (boxs)54.2 54.9Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word where the inflectional ending -es is added.

32 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Key messages for teachers About the test The spelling test assessed students’ organised understandings of the: • sounds (sound/symbols and pronunciation layers) in words • the morphology and function of words (syllable word function layer) • the spelling–meaning connections of and between words (the meaning layer). The items 1–12 in the Year 5 paper tested students’ abilities to correct the spelling of an identified misspelt word in a sentence. Items 13–25 required students to first identify a misspelt word and then spell it correctly. Many of the words students were asked to spell were multisyllabic. This required students to know how to apply coding knowledge learnt in earlier years to longer words. Six items (8, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20) assessed long vowels (loose, groceries, wise, waited, daily, brief). Six items (3, 9, 15, 17, 24, 25) also directly or indirectly assessed students’ knowledge of how the English spelling system codes the function of words, in particular the conventions for adding either inflectional endings (boxes) or meaning-based suffixes (neatly, reliable, wonderful, citizenship, documentary). Other items (4, 5, 7, 19, 22, 23) explored student understanding of syllable patterns including how vowel sounds perform in stressed and unstressed syllables (pocket, chocolate, sample, average, diamond, desperate). Performance Most students attempted all identified spelling items. Some Queensland Year 5 students correctly spelt all words on this test paper. Girls performed better than boys on 18 of the 25 items. Girls were significantly more able (23%) to spell the word glitter. The difference between the performance of boys and girls lessened on more difficult items, with slightly more boys than girls able to spell diamond. A critical mass of students appear to have control of the spelling patterns for long and ambiguous vowels such as those in wise, waited, blood and loose. The spelling of the word thirsty with its r-controlled vowel pattern offered a slightly greater challenge, with many students recognising that they needed to select another r-combination but unable to select the correct one, e.g. thursty (8%), thearsty (4%). These results demonstrate the need to keep a teaching focus on this aspect of spelling, reinforcing it with short and familiar words while revisiting and extending as the Year 5 students write more and more multisyllabic words. There are still aspects of spelling consonants that remain challenging. Across Australia, students are still developing their ability to spell the final blend in stretch. Interestingly, the student errors for this item show that, 18daily (dayly)46.4 46.0Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the long vowel is spelt -ai. 19average (avrage)44.6 46.1Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the vowel -er in the unstressed middle syllable. 20brief (breif)45.2 46.7Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the long vowel digraph -ie. 21audience (audiance)31.2 28.3Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the ending -ence. 22diamond (dimond)24.0 27.6Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the letter pattern i/a at the syllable juncture represents two different vowels. 23desperate (desparate)27.3 31.6Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the schwa -e in the unstressed middle syllable. 24citizenship (citisenship)25.2 22.7Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word based on the word citizen. 25documentary (documentry)9.2 11.5 Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word ending with -ary in the unstressed final syllable. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

| 33 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 in an attempt to correct it, many students changed the vowel pattern failing to notice the missing consonant in the final blend. Control of ambiguous consonants such as the soft c in anticipate and s/z as in citizenship is also still developing. The error patterns for anticipate are similar to those for stretch. Students typically did not identify the error in the spelling of the consonant but rather changed the spelling of the vowel in the unstressed syllables. By Year 5, most students are being taught about syllable patterns. Even straightforward patterns such as the two consonants in poc/ket and the doublet in glit/ter offer a degree of challenge for those unable to spell them. While more than three-quarters of Queensland students could spell pocket, those students who were unable to correct it left out either the c or the k. Similarly, those students who identified the error in glitter, but failed to correct it, typically did not double the t; instead changing the vowel in the second syllable or selecting the wrong word. As part of learning about syllables, students need to learn how vowels work in the stressed and unstressed syllables of multisyllabic words. This aspect of the spelling system was assessed in items 5, 19, 21, 23 and 25. This is one of the more difficult aspects of the spelling system to master and one that students will need to continue learning as they encounter more and more complex words. One such word — chocolate, spelt choclate without the middle vowel — saw Queensland students perform more than 5% below the national cohort. About 6% of students knew that a vowel was missing from the middle of the word but chose the wrong one (chocalate). These students understand the concept but need to refine their visual patterning for this word. Another 3% identified the c as the error and changed it to chocklate while the remainder have either reproduced the given error or produced a phonetic spelling. In general, the analysis of error patterns of students indicated an over-reliance upon, or reversion to, an earlier more embryonic strategy of trying to sound out the words letter by letter. Students also need to be taught about the meaning of words. The ability to identify the base word improves spelling knowledge, allowing students to spell and edit more complex and even unseen words. For example, students should know that reliable is made up of the base word rely and therefore requires a change from y to i before taking able as a suffix. The error patterns would suggest that few of the students who were unable to spell this word knew the base word. Careful consideration needs to be given to the interpretation of the results for words such as boxes, wonderful, glitter and even diamond. In these items, the error patterns suggest that many students were unable to even identify the incorrect spelling and, as a result, little is known about their ability. Implications for teaching In Year 5 many students are consolidating their knowledge of aspects of the sound layer of the spelling system. Once students are confident with spelling consonant digraphs, complex consonant patterns, long vowels, r- controlled vowels and diphthongs, they need to examine how these, and particularly the vowel sounds, perform in stressed and unstressed syllables. Year 5 students will benefit from continued explicit teaching of the more ambiguous sounds such as the spelling of consonants that have more than one sound such as soft c and g or where a consonant is spelt in more than one way such as final hard k or s. Explicit and extensive teaching of syllable patterns needs to be a major focus in this year level. Year 5 students are generally able to spell words where the closed syllable patterns are regular and obvious such as in pocket and this knowledge provides a basis from which to teach more difficult open syllable patterns such as that seen in groceries. Knowledge of the meaning layer needs to be extended as students learn commonly occurring suffixes such as -ly, -ful, -ance and -ence and the conventions for adding them. They need to know these change the meaning and the function of words. Above all, teachers need to assist students to see that spelling is an organised body of knowledge. The NAPLAN assessment is primarily a proofreading one, and so it requires that children have access to this organised body of knowledge to be able to deconstruct words and apply proofreading strategies. Metacognitive strategies should be used to teach, support and model the decision making needed in learning to spell. They also need to be developed to guide the selection of proofreading strategies. As a testwiseness strategy, students need to know that they should NOT rewrite the error as written. In all but one of the error-identified items, this was one of the five most common errors. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA materials are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

34 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Grammar and punctuation — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Grammar and punctuation component of the Year 5 Language conventions test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rate). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description 26 A 97.8 97.0 Identifies the adjective in a complex sentence. 27 C 88.5 88.6 Identifies the correct preposition to introduce a comparative phrase. 28 B 81.6 79.3 Identifies the function of an adverb in a complex sentence. 29 C 63.0 63.3 Identifies the correct indefinite article before a noun. 30 A 94.3 93.5 Identifies the correct appropriate modal auxiliary. 31 A 85.3 86.0 Identifies the correct punctuation to end a statement. 32 A 87.1 86.3 Identifies the pronoun representing the subject of a clause. 33 A 80.8 81.8 Identifies the correct simple past tense of an irregular verb. 34 B 75.5 76.2 Identifies the correct non-finite verb form. 35 C 80.2 80.5Identifies the correct sentence boundary punctuation between two simple sentences. 36 D 74.1 73.3 Identifies the correct simple past tense forms of two irregular verbs. 37 B 67.2 66.0 Identifies the correct use of a list comma. 38 A 67.5 70.8Identifies the correct use of brackets to enclose the explanation of an acronym. 39 C 65.2 64.6 Identifies the correct connective to introduce a conditional clause. 40 B 61.7 63.3 Identifies the correct tense of a verb. 41 C 59.6 56.5Identifies the sentence which correctly combines information presented in a table. 42 C 61.5 60.2 Identifies an adjective in a complex sentence. 43 A 41.2 43.8 Identifies the incorrect use of real as an adverb. 44 C 58.3 56.2 Identifies the correct use of the homophones your and you're. 45 D 46.8 47.5 Identifies the correct use of capital letters for proper nouns. 46 C 39.4 40.9 Identifies the incorrect use of an apostrophe in a plural word. 47 D 39.5 38.2 Identifies a contraction. 48 D 30.5 31.2Identifies the correct relative pronoun to introduce an adjectival clause. 49 B 36.4 34.6 Identifies the correct possessive pronoun. 50 D 27.2 29.3 Identifies incorrect subject–verb agreement. 51 D 15.4 14.8Identifies the first event in a time sequence using the grammatical signals.

| 35 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Key messages for teachers About the test The 2013 Year 5 Language conventions test (items 26 to 51) assessed students’ use and knowledge of common grammatical conventions and punctuation in written Standard Australian English. Nineteen items tested aspects of grammar and seven items tested the correct use of punctuation. Grammatical concepts tested included identifying the correct use of: • verb tense, subject–verb agreement and modal auxiliaries • adjectives to indicate relationships between objects or expand the meaning of nouns and noun groups in sentences • adverbs to intensify or add information to verbs • the function of pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions within sentences. The punctuation items tested sentence boundary punctuation, capital letters for proper nouns, different contextual uses of apostrophes and parenthesis and the use of commas to structure a list. Performance The performance of Queensland students was very similar to the national performance. Some Queensland Year 5 students correctly answered every item on this test paper. Girls performed better than boys on the grammar and punctuation questions. Nine items (26–28 and 30–35) were answered correctly by more than 75% of Queensland Year 5 students. Two of these items tested sentence punctuation, while the remainder assessed grammatical knowledge at the word level — the function of adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and verb forms. In contrast, item 43, which tested knowledge of the adverb really, asked students to discriminate between Standard Australian English and the more colloquial use of the word. The facility rate for this was 41%. Year 5 students are still developing their knowledge of clause structure. Items about clause and sentence structure were among the most difficult. Item 51, which asked students to unpack the clause structure of a sentence in order to identify a narrative, was answered correctly by only 15% of students. The result for this item should be considered together with item 41, which asked students to identify a sentence that correctly combined multiple pieces of information contained in a table. In addition to the two items testing sentence boundaries in straightforward contexts, the punctuation items (38, 45) asked students to identify the correct use of brackets and the correct capitalisation of proper nouns. While 47% of students could capitalise proper nouns, 30% of Queensland students incorrectly selected the option where island was capitalised. While many students would be familiar with place names where island is capitalised, they needed to identify that in this context it wasn’t a proper noun. Three items assessed knowledge of the apostrophe. Items 44 and 47 asked students to identify correct use of apostrophes of contraction with the first asking students to discriminate between you’re and its homophone. Item 47 required students to identify a contraction while item 46 required students to identify a misused apostrophe. Implication for teaching Grammar and punctuation needs to be taught in meaningful contexts, so that students connect knowledge of these systems with the way they contribute to meaning making. The metalanguage of grammar and punctuation should be continuously and systematically developed over the years of schooling, in line with the Australian Curriculum: English. In the upper years of primary schooling, it is particularly important to develop student understanding of clause and sentence level grammar. Clauses are the building blocks for extending, enhancing and elaborating simple units of language into more sophisticated structures. The development of knowledge about, and control over, clause structure is a long process. While basic clause structure is introduced into the curriculum two years earlier, the focus in Year 5 is on subordination and the creation of tight cohesive language units which use the placement of clauses in sentences as a way to highlight particular meanings. As students move to express more complex ideas through their sentences, understanding the role of conjunctions to introduce independent and dependent clauses becomes a powerful tool for developing control over writing. Students need to learn the precise role of conjunctions as they express the logical relationship between clauses. As students learn to expand sentences they also need to revisit the related clause and sentence boundary as they mark out these units of meaning. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA materials are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

36 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Writing task sample Year 5

| 37 Queensland Studies Authority 2013

38 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Year 5 Audience 4 The writer begins to engage and persuade a reader by developing an enthusiastic persona and actively seeks to win the reader’s sympathy. The reader needs a reason to award this grandmother above their own. The writer’s solution is to make it seem that readers can show their appreciation of grandmothers in general by recognising this one special grandmother. Text structure 3 All structural components show some development. This text is built on a logical framework. It establishes general features of the subject (grandmas) and then shows how the particular case my grandma exemplifies the features. Ideas 4 The writer uses personal examples to back up assertions about the universal appeal of grandmothers. The willingness to look beyond personal feelings to general ideas about grandmothers lifts the score to 4. Persuasive devices 3 The direct address to the reader is engaging and natural. There is some brief refutation of contrary ideas about grandmothers being cranky. The student uses some persuasive devices effectively, including the imitation of the advertising phrase, But wait, there’s more! which is well placed and relevant to the argument. Listing items shows an attempt to persuade through evidence and suggests believability of the propositions made. Vo ca bula r y 3 The student effectively uses some words and phrases that make a point (not in their nature to be, cranky old crosspatches) and add vividness (feeling blue, warm-hearted). The use of adjectives such as sensational and fabulous shows that the student is aware of the power of words and is ready to focus on the selection and crafting of vocabulary to write more controlled texts. Cohesion 3 This is a sustained piece of writing where the writer has learned the technique of introducing the topic of the following paragraph at the end of the preceding paragraph (cook to food, kind to not nasty, fun to games and excursions etc.). There is accurate use of connectives such as then, also, in particular and the vocabulary keeps the topics focused and clear. Paragraphing 2 All paragraphs have the outlines of an internal structure but not quite enough elaboration. The page break tempts the writer to put in breaks where a single paragraph on the topic of fun should be. Sentence structure 4 The sentences are correct but do not show the variety and sophistication needed for higher scores. The writer makes good use of her repertoire of sentence structures, including contrast (e.g. All grandmas do … but mine is …), questions and answers and the use of lists. This last one is sometimes uncontrolled but it is also a sign that the student is ready to learn more sophisticated techniques. Punctuation 4 Sentence boundary punctuation is controlled, with correct use of some other punctuation. An error, granny’s, a stray capital on Cooks and insufficient evidence of control of a range of punctuation keeps this text at a score 4. Spelling 5 There are enough correctly spelt difficult words for a score of 5: awesome, flavoursome, strudel, absolutely, sensational, terrific, particular, fabulous, generous, numerous, entirely, opinion, deserves. Incorrect spelling: lasange.

| 39 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Year 5 Literacy — Reading Item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Year 5 Reading test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description The tree of life (Informative) 1 D 90.2 89.9 Locates directly stated information. 2 A 77.3 77.1 Locates directly stated information. 3 B 87.9 87.2 Locates directly stated information. 4 C 78.4 77.5 Interprets information from a labelled photograph. 5 A 89.6 88.7 Locates directly stated information. 6 C 58.1 56.5 Identifies the purpose of a labelled photograph. An interview with Andy Griffiths (Informative) 7 A 91.3 91.2 Locates directly stated information. 8 D 43.2 43.8 Integrates information to make a text-based inference. 9 B 87.1 87.6 Interprets directly stated information. 10 A 84.4 85.0 Infers the relationship between ideas and interprets vocabulary. 11 B 89.9 90.0 Interprets directly stated information. 12 A 72.2 74.8 Infers the purpose of a quotation in an interview. Kaiya goes hunting (Imaginative) 13 B 67.9 69.4 Interprets the meaning of a word (drone). 14 C 29.7 28.2Integrates information to infer the reasons for a character's reaction. 15 C 66.2 65.4 Infers the reason for a character’s action. 16 C 72.1 70.9 Infers the reason for a character’s action. 17 D 39.6 36.6 Infers a character’s emotion by interpreting an action. 18 D 43.3 42.7 Identifies the underlying theme of a narrative.

40 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook *Item 34 Responses which show an understanding of the idiom twists and turns were marked correct: • unexpected happenings • you keep being surprised • many different things happened in the story/storyline of the movie. Responses that show no understanding or interpretation of the idiom were marked incorrect: • it’s about the plot • it’s confusing • the story twists and turns. Fishing from the rocks (Imaginative) 19 A 69.2 69.5Infers a character’s identity using knowledge of roles and relationships. 20 A 47.3 47.2Interprets vocabulary and punctuation to infer the action of packing. 21 B 38.5 39.7 Infers a character’s feelings from the tone of a command. 22 D 54.5 54.7 Infers the reason for an emotional response. 23 A 71.6 71.3 Identifies the intended purpose of a command. 24 D 63.6 64.3 Interprets the common motivations of characters. Duyfken (Informative) 25 C 76.8 76.8 Locates directly stated information. 26 C 46.2 47.8 Infers the meaning of the word, Foundation, from the text. 27 B 65.6 68.6 Locates directly stated information. 28 B 26.9 34.5Interprets directly stated information using vocabulary knowledge (maiden voyage). 29 D 42.2 44.1 Locates and interprets directly stated information. 30 C 27.2 26.9 Locates and interprets directly stated information. 31 D 45.6 47.7 Integrates information to infer the main idea of a text. City of the Ancients (Persuasive) 32 C 40.1 39.1 Identifies the purpose of a movie review. 33 A 39.5 39.9 Identifies the referent for a pronoun. 34 * 24.1 28.0 Interprets idiomatic language in a movie review. 35 A 30.3 32.2 Interprets the purpose for using an exclamation mark. 36 B 65.9 67.0 Integrates information to infer an opinion. 37 B 30.1 31.7 Identifies an appropriate medium for a movie review. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

| 41 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Key messages for teachers About the test Students were asked to read and respond to six different stimuli — three informative texts (The tree of life, An interview with Andy Griffiths, Duyfken), two imaginative tests (Kaiya goes hunting, Fishing from the rocks) and a persuasive text (City of the Ancients). Students were asked to locate information, to make both text-based and context-based inferences and to integrate information in the text in order to answer some higher order comprehension questions. Students were also asked to identify the medium for a text and to evaluate the use of textual features. Performance Queensland students continued to attain results that are close to the national result in items which required them to locate explicitly stated information in a text. This was particularly so in information texts such as The tree of life and An interview with Andy Griffiths. This data suggests that while explicit teaching and continued practice of this skill should certainly occur, teachers should be confident in focusing their teaching on higher order reading comprehension skills. Year 5 students also achieved well in the items from Fishing from the rocks. In previous years, some students found poetry-related items more difficult. These often call for skills of inference, synthesis and evaluation. In this unit, however, most students were able to identify elements of the poem such as the speaker in item 19 (69%), the intended purpose and audience of a statement in item 23 (72%) and to infer meaning from the poem regarding characters’ emotions and motivations in items 22 and 24. In the persuasive text, City of the Ancients, students had to interpret the effect of rhetorical devices such as the use of idiomatic language, … many twists and turns (item 34) and the use of punctuation, e.g. One of the children is captured by a giant seagull! (item 35). Typically, because they have to synthesise their own understandings, students find items that require a written response difficult. However, around a quarter of students were able to answer item 34, applying their understanding of the expression twists and turns in a literary context. Students who were incorrect gave the literal meaning of one or both words. The Duyfken required close reading, making links across a passage to synthesise or infer meaning using information from different parts of the text. Students needed to do this in items 27, 28, 29 and 30. However, they frequently chose an option which was similar to information provided in the question stem instead of finding and confirming their answers from the text. For example, in item 30, 31% of students selected an incorrect option by referring to the word after in the question and matching it to after in the text. Students need to learn how to read around a potential answer and then to confirm whether their understanding is right or wrong. In responding to these questions, students need to read all of the question and all of the options rather than reading part of a question and answering what they think they are being asked. Open-ended questions are always going to be among the most difficult. Students should read instructions carefully and then read the text closely to confirm their answer. Implications for teaching Higher-order comprehension consists of a range of skills, such as inferring, synthesising and evaluating. Year 5 students are still developing the knowledge and strategies needed for these reading skills. These skills need to be explicitly taught, the strategies for using them modelled and supported by guided practice in a range of material varying in complexity and subject. At a school level, teachers and curriculum leaders may wish to use the following questions to review their existing programs: • How are reading comprehension strategies being taught and developed across subject areas? Is this being done with a range of texts and for different purposes? • How could using a different lens to look at existing reading strategies and comprehension programs be useful? For example, the Australian Curriculum: English/Literacy strand/Interpreting, analysing, evaluating would provide a starting point. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA materials are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

42 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Year 5 Numeracy Item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Year 5 Numeracy test. The numeracy strands are abbreviated as follows: Algebra, function and pattern (AFP); Measurement, chance and data (MCD); Number (N); Space (S). All items are worth one score point. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Strand Answer Qld% Aust% Description 1 S A 94.8 95.0 Identifies the net of a pyramid. 2 S Jack 89.9 89.1Uses an alphanumeric coordinate to locate a cell in a spreadsheet. 3 MCD A 83.6 80.8Selects the spinner most likely to give a specified outcome. 4 N A 80.5 81.5 Solves a multistep division problem. 5SD and G or G and D82.0 81.4Identifies specific faces after visually rotating a 3-D model. 6 AFP 35 77.3 76.8Calculates the missing addend in a subtraction problem. 7 MCD B 78.9 79.9Evaluates the likelihood of an outcome of a given event. 8 MCD D 72.7 69.6Calculates the difference between two values displayed on a many-to-one pictograph. 9 S B 78.7 78.3 Locates a position on an alphanumeric grid. 10 N B 68.4 66.8Interprets a number line to identify a missing number. 11 N B 69.4 69.6Compares and orders common fractions represented as area models. 12 MCD D 63.3 64.0Interprets tally marks representing money to calculate a total. 13 S D 74.7 74.5 Visualises the result of an oblique fold. 14 AFP B 55.2 54.7Analyses a spatial pattern to identify the repeating section. 15 N B 68.5 63.5Interprets the representation of a fraction to identify the whole. 16 S A 64.4 59.4Identifies an image after it is rotated a quarter turn clockwise. 17 MCD B 58.6 59.0 Calculates a duration. 18 MCD A 48.5 48.6Uses a calendar to determine the date of an event.

| 43 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 19 AFP D 45.1 45.4Solves a word problem involving inverse relationships. 20 N A 55.5 50.1Calculates the difference between two 4-digit numbers in context. 21 S B 57.1 57.1Identifies the reflected image of a complex design. 22 MCD C 41.2 39.1Interprets and uses a double column graph to compare totals. 23 S A 42.2 41.4Recognises a different view of a stack of objects. 24 MCD C 46.7 46.5Estimates to identify the angle closest to 45 degrees. 25 MCD C 44.9 44.8 Interprets a two-way table involving distance. 26 N 33 48.6 48.5Solves a problem involving the difference between two pay rates. 27 N D 46.3 42.5 Calculates with common fractions. 28 S C 44.0 39.1 Identifies a non-symmetrical shape. 29 S C 45.0 44.2 Estimates a curved distance on a grid map. 30 N C 39.0 40.4 Solves a division problem involving money. 31 N C 37.3 37.7Identifies the value of four notes needed to make a given total. 32 N D 24.2 26.1Solves a word problem involving a rate and money. 33 N D 32.0 33.5 Estimates a fraction of a large number. 34 AFP 10 29.8 25.0Completes a number sentence involving decimal numbers and division by 10. 35 MCD 24 26.1 26.0Solves a perimeter problem involving calculating a missing length. 36 N 11 11.6 13.1Solves a money problem involving subtraction and division. 37 S 15 12.8 13.6Calculates the number of edges of a prism when given a picture of its base. 38 S 60 10.1 10.3Calculates the number of identical blocks used to make a prism. 39 MCD 500 4.1 4.8Interprets a graduated scale to calculate a difference. 40 MCD 60 5.4 6.5Calculates the total size of a data set given a simple pie graph and data about two categories. Item no. Strand Answer Qld% Aust% Description

44 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Key messages for teachers About the test The Year 5 Numeracy test consisted of 40 items assessing the four sub strands of Numeracy, with no access to a calculator. There are common items between the Years 3 and 5 papers and between the Year 5 paper and the Year 7 non-calculator (NC) paper. Schools can use these common items to look at differences in performance between the two year levels on the same items. The table on the preceding pages reports the number of students who answered the items correctly expressed as a percentage. This is referred to as the facility rate. Schools can use this rate to gauge the relative difficulty of items on the paper. Queensland facility rates for the Year 5 Numeracy test ranged from around 95% to 5%, with 19 items answered correctly by 50% or more of students. When compared to the provisional national data, Queensland Year 5 students achieved a higher facility rate on 22 items, with five items higher by approximately 5%. Performance The five items (15, 16, 20, 28, and 34) where Queensland had significantly higher facility rates than the provisional national data covered a range of concepts including symmetry, both line and rotational; fraction and decimal numbers, including calculating with decimals; and solving single-step number problems. These were encouraging results and teachers may wish to compare their own class data with this achievement. Other encouraging trends include the results for items 3, 8, 22 and 27. These four items were around 2–3% higher than the facility rates nationally and these items covered calculating with common fractions, interpreting graphs and recognising an event that would give a ‘most likely’ outcome. Encouragingly, Queensland’s performance on 24 of the 40 items showed little difference, less than one per cent, compared with the national results. However, there were still some areas where the gap was slightly wider. These areas included item 10, where students had to work out the graduations on a number line. Many students in the second most able group selected 35 as the answer. Items 30, 32 and 36, which were all word problems involving more than one step, also had a slightly lower facility rate. Many of the incorrect responses given for these items suggest that students find multiple operations challenging. For example, in item 30 many students in the higher performing group selected an answer that involved only a single calculation and, as in item 32, students did not read the question to ensure that it matched the stated conditions. The last item on the paper was very challenging for all students. It had a facility rate of 5% in Queensland and 6% nationally. It was a link item to the Year 7 (NC) paper and Year 7 students also found it challenging with only 15% correct in Queensland. This item was a multistep problem involving pie charts, fractions and multiplicative thinking. Implications for teaching Schools can compare the performance of their students with the statewide data. One area that could be a focus for further teaching is problem solving, and in particular, problems with more than one-step. From a review of incorrect responses, it seems that many students may have answered only part of the problem. Perhaps these students have not been able to fully develop a plan or process to solve the problem. One suggestion to address this issue is to use the Polya 4-stage model for problem solving. This model has been well-documented over time as a way of giving students a logical process to work through when solving word problems. Polya’s 4 stage model • Understand the problem, restate the problem in your own words and think about other problems that were like this one and how you solved them. • Devise a plan, consider what strategies to use, the operations needed and the order to do them. • Carry out the plan, do the problem. • Check the answer, ensure the answer matches the problem and if not start again. Teachers may wish to review the way they engage students in problem solving and look for ways to encourage a classroom environment that supports the sharing of problem-solving strategies and solutions. Teachers could also look to extend their more mathematically-able students with non-routine problems that use knowledge and skills from all strands of Numeracy. Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. Additionally, SunLANDA materials are available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

| 45 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Year 7 Literacy — Language conventions Spelling — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Spelling component of the Year 7 Language conventions test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rate). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description Proofreading – error identified 1sample (sampel)82.1 82.9 Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the ending -le. 2extra (ekstra)82.1 82.7 Correctly spells a multisyllable word beginning ex-. 3annoyed (anoyed)78.0 78.9Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the doublet n/n at the syllable juncture. 4thumbnail (thumnail)77.9 79.5Correctly spells a compound word where the first word ends in a silent letter -b. 5worst (werst)76.9 78.3 Correctly spells a word with the r-influenced vowel -or. 6reliable (relyable)61.4 63.3Correctly spells a multisyllable word where the derivational ending -able is added with a change to the base word (y to i). 7catchment (cachment)76.4 67.7Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the trigraph -tch. 8similar (similer)51.9 51.4Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the unstressed syllable ending -ar. 9perimeter (perimetre)58.4 51.7Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the etymological element -meter. 10groceries (growceries)46.3 48.8Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the long vowel -o. 11responsibilities (responsabilities)38.2 36.5Correctly spells a multisyllable word where the base word ends in -ible. 12canyon (canion)36.1 41.2Correctly spells a word with the consonant -y beginning the second syllable. 13deafening (defening)30.6 34.2Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the short vowel digraph -ea in the base word. 14nurture (nurchure)23.6 24.8Correctly spells a word with unaccented final syllable chur spelt -ture. 15abbreviation (abreviation)18.0 18.6Correctly spells a multisyllable word with the doublet b/b at the first syllable juncture. 16forfeit (forfet)14.7 15.7Correctly spells a two-syllable word with the vowel pattern -ei in the unstressed syllable.

46 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Proofreading – error unidentified 17garbage (garbege)73.7 75.5Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word ending in -age. 18accompany (acompany)58.1 52.2Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the doublet c/c at the first syllable juncture. 19average (avrage)71.2 71.3Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the vowel -er in the unstressed middle syllable. 20accept (aksept)54.2 58.9Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the c/c at the syllable juncture represents two different sounds. 21southern (southen)49.0 50.7Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the derivational ending -ern. 22symphony (symfony)44.2 45.4Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the digraph -ph forms part of an etymological unit phon(e) = voice. 23diamond (dimond)46.2 50.9Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where the letter pattern i/a at the syllable juncture, represents two different vowels. 24whirlpool (wirlpool)30.0 36.0Identifies an error, then correctly spells a compound word where the consonant pattern wh- begins the first word. 25frightened (frightned)38.1 40.4Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word to which inflectional endings have been added (fright+en+ed). 26independent (independant)35.0 34.0Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the ending -ent. 27arguments (arguements)31.8 29.3Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word where an e-drop is required before adding the noun forming suffix -ment. 28gauge (guage)23.1 28.1Identifies an error, then correctly spells a word with the diphthong digraph -au. 29permanently (permenently)17.4 20.5Identifies an error, then correctly spells the vowel in a multisyllable base word, permanent. 30treacherous (trecherous)10.3 12.3Identifies an error, then correctly spells a multisyllable word with the short vowel digraph -ea. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

| 47 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Key messages for teachers About the test The 2013 Year 7 Spelling test was designed to assess knowledge of the English spelling system through proofreading. The paper had 30 items. In 16 of these items the error was identified and students needed to spell it correctly. The other 14 items involved a two-step process; students had to first identify the error and then spell it correctly. By Year 7, students need to be able to use more multisyllabic words. They are expected to be able to use their spelling knowledge to spell words that they may not have seen before. To spell multisyllabic words, students need to be able to process those words in bigger chunks, i.e. in syllables and units of meaning. Therefore, the items in this test are designed to test knowledge of: • letter patterns • syllable patterns • affixes and the conventions for adding them • word meanings/etymology. Students need to have a range of strategies to be able to use this knowledge for proofreading. Performance The test had four items which assessed the coding of pronunciation, e.g. worst, garbage, deafening and gauge. While worst and garbage were spelt correctly by approximately three-quarters of Australian students, they were less able to correct the misspelling of the vowel in deafening even though it was an error-identified item. In Queensland, 20% of students wrote a word that looked similar to the error — defining (16%) and defending (4%) — despite the fact that neither made sense in this context. The other group of errors demonstrated an inability to select the correct letter pattern for the vowel. The error-unidentified item 28, gauge, with its uncommon letter sequence representing the long vowel had a slightly lower facility rate. However, the error patterns for this item suggest that the students were unable to identify this word as the error, selecting instead one of the longer words in the sentence. Year 7 students are still developing their knowledge of syllable patterns. Words such as sample, extra and annoyed with straightforward closed syllable patterns had high facility rates. However, the error patterns of the students unable to spell these words would indicate that they are unaware of the most common long vowel patterns, i.e. vc/cv. The error patterns are phonetic. The error patterns for words like annoyed, abbreviation and accompanied show little evidence that students are aware that they should check the doublets in these words. Where words have unstressed syllables or less common, less straightforward syllable patterns they are more challenging as the results for words such as similar, groceries, average and permanently show. Open syllable patterns like that in gro/cery are more difficult for students to identify, particularly where an affix is added to the base word. Words such as thumbnail, reliable, catchment and forfeit require an understanding of how meaning influences spelling patterns. Although more than three-quarters of students were able to spell the words with the most obvious meaning links, the compound word thumbnail and the base word plus suffix construction, catchment, produced error patterns that suggest that students did not identify the base words in either. These students provided various phonetic spellings of thumb and appeared not to recognise the base word catch which was consistently misspelt. Interestingly, about 10% more Queensland students were able to spell catchment compared to the Australian cohort. The error patterns for reliable again suggest that students unable to spell the word were also unable to recognise the base word, rely and to know that they had to change the y to an i. The good news is that these students also identified the spelling of the suffix -able as correct. Contrast this with the performance on item 11, responsibilities, where errors show that students did not recognise the suffix -ible in the base word as being consistent with the convention that -able is added to a base word and -ible is added to a root. Implications for teaching A teaching approach that helps students to understand English spelling as systematic and not random will help them build a sound foundation from which to deploy their strategies for learning and monitoring their spelling. A conscious knowledge of the patterns and conventions of spelling is also needed for proofreading. Students need to be overtly taught proofreading strategies and how to use them. As a general comment, Year 7 students need to be guided in the use of more sophisticated spelling strategies.

48 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook Grammar and punctuation — item descriptions and key messages This table shows the results for the Grammar and punctuation component for the Year 7 Literacy test. The percentage columns give the relative proportion of correct answers (facility rates). These results are based on provisional data. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description 31 A 91.8 92.2Identifies the correct preposition to introduce a prepositional phrase. 32 A 92.3 92.5Identifies the correct preposition to complete a phrasal verb. 33 B 88.5 88.8 Identifies the correct comparative form of an adjective. 34 D 93.0 92.2 Identifies the correct determiner for a countable noun. 35 A 86.4 86.0Identifies the correct interrogative verb group for a simple question. 36 A 81.0 80.1 Identifies the correct pair of verbs to indicate past tense. 37 D 81.0 80.9Identifies the correct pronoun as the subject of a simple sentence. 38 C 78.0 78.9Identifies the correct connective to introduce a conditional clause. 39 B 58.1 59.8Identifies the correct use of capital letters for proper nouns. 40 C 67.8 66.0 Identifies the correct use of list punctuation. 41 A 70.7 70.9 Identifies the correct use of brackets to enclose dates. 42 C 68.9 67.7Identifies the sentence which correctly combines information presented in a table. 43 C 69.4 67.2 Identifies an adjective in a complex sentence. 44 C 74.9 74.3Identifies the correct use of the homophones your and you're. 45 C 47.6 46.9Identifies the incorrect use of an apostrophe in a plural word. 46 A 49.2 48.2Identifies in a given sentence, the connective which does not express time. 47 D 51.4 50.0 Identifies an apostrophe of possession. 48 C 57.9 59.2Identifies the correct use of list punctuation in a sentence. 49 D 50.4 45.1 Identifies a contraction. 50 A 52.6 54.6 Identifies the correct use of an apostrophe of possession. 51 D 40.7 42.9Identifies the correct connective introducing a dependent clause in a complex sentence. 52 D 42.0 39.7 Identifies correctly the pronoun in a sentence. 53 B 39.1 36.2 Identifies the use of a present participle as an adjective.

| 49 Queensland Studies Authority 2013 Key messages for teachers About the test The 2013 Year 7 Language conventions test consisted of 28 items, with an emphasis on items assessing punctuation knowledge and targeting the word level of text organisation. Items targeting group, clause and sentence levels of text organisation were fairly evenly distributed. The test covered aspects of grammar such as prepositions, pronouns, connectives, and the grammatical function of homophones. Punctuation skills tested included list punctuation and use of brackets and apostrophes. The ability to read information carefully in order to demonstrate knowledge of clauses and sentence construction was also tested in items 42 and 56. Overall, Year 7 students performed more strongly on those items which provided a sentence with a word omitted and required them to select a single word as the correct response. More challenging was the format where the question required students to discriminate between four complete sentences. These items require close reading to determine the difference. Performance The performance of Queensland Year 7 students was similar to the performance of the Australian cohort, with facility rates either just above (16 items) or slightly under (12 items) the national figure. Queensland performed slightly better on items which required knowledge of the metalanguage. In item 49, 5% more Queensland students were able to discriminate a contraction from any other use of an apostrophe. The correct use of apostrophes to indicate contraction was also successfully identified by most students in item 44. However, possessive apostrophes proved challenging for students to identify. Item 45 required students to identify an incorrect use of punctuation. To do this, they had to know the meaning of the metalanguage, i.e. the name and the use for each of the alternatives — capital letter, comma, apostrophe and brackets. To choose the correct option, students needed to know that there are apostrophes of possession and contraction and specifically that plural nouns do not require an apostrophe. Performance on item 50 reflects a similar confusion about plurals and possessive apostrophes. A majority of Queensland students were able to correctly punctuate lists (items 40 and item 48) suggesting developing awareness and control of internal sentence punctuation. In grammar, 69% of Queensland students and 68% nationally were able to identify the option which combined propositions presented in a table into an appropriately constructed sentence. Similarly, item 56 tested the ability to combine clauses to accurately signal time sequence. Students were challenged by the use of more complex connectives such as despite and although. Students need to develop control over these more advanced forms in their own writing. Implications for teaching Teachers of Year 7 students would find it beneficial to discuss the skills and knowledge required when encountering the different types of questions and options seen in the NAPLAN test. Practising proofreading of items which are lengthy or similar to one another, where students annotate differences and engage in mental reasoning to select the correct option, would also be a useful strategy.54 D 28.8 30.2 Identifies incorrect subject–verb agreement. 55 B 30.5 31.9 Identifies the correct adverbial form of a word. 56 D 27.5 29.6Identifies the sentence which correctly combines information from two sentences. 57 A 24.3 22.4Identifies the word that is not an adverb in a complex sentence. 58 B 21.7 19.8Identifies the word used as a preposition in a simple sentence. Item no. Answer Qld% Aust% Description

50 |2013 Test Reporting Handbook In order to be literate individuals who engage with and understand the texts they encounter — whether for the purpose of study, leisure or to accomplish tasks in everyday life — students need to continually revisit, consolidate and refine their understanding of grammar and punctuation while making meaningful links with new knowledge. Activities which may prove useful include: • revisiting the purpose and use of apostrophes, to understand how they are used to indicate contractions and possession. Activities which provide students with this reinforcement should also include reference to plural subjects • addressing proper nouns where teachers could invite students to explicitly discuss their understandings of the rules for capitalisation of certain nouns, clarify any misunderstandings and guide students in putting this knowledge into practice. Indicating relationship and order and connecting ideas in a logical flow requires an understanding of the role and purpose of a variety of connectives. Explicitly teaching the use of more complex connectives such as despite, although, whereas, however and furthermore should enable students to improve their writing and gain a deeper understanding of the material they read. At a school level, teachers and curriculum leaders may wish to use the following questions to review their existing programs: • How do teaching programs develop student understanding of the purpose and function of punctuation through the stages of schooling? How might the scope and sequence of the Australian Curriculum: English prove useful in this evaluation? • What strategies are currently taught to develop proofreading and self-editing skills? How do these strategies enable students to systematically review texts at word, clause, sentence, paragraph and whole-text levels? • To what extent are students presented with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge of grammar and punctuation in a range of formats and mediums? Are they familiar with a range of questioning styles? Have they been provided with questions that are taken from the context of a shared text or experience as well as questions which are not connected to a shared experience? Please refer to SunLANDA for a detailed analysis of individual test items, including teaching ideas designed to assist with the development of the understanding and skills required by each item. SunLANDA is available to all schools on the QSA website. SunLANDA materials are also available to Education Queensland schools through OneSchool.

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