Tom Alegounarias, President of the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES) said the online Literacy and Numeracy tests for students planning to leave school before the HSC will now be ‘adaptive’.

“With advanced technology developed by the University of Cambridge, the tests will get harder or easier depending on the individual student’s ability – this is known as Computer Adaptive Testing or CAT.

“Every year around 2000 students take the voluntary Literacy and Numeracy tests and receive a report on their results from BOSTES.

“Students use the test results when applying for jobs, further education and training.

“Previously students had to complete the same 60 questions and wait a few weeks for the results.

“Now, with the new technology, BOSTES will be able to assess students’ level of ability with considerably fewer questions.

“Also results will be available straight away.

“This makes the tests quicker as students don’t have to answer questions which are too hard or too easy and which make no difference to their results.

“The adaptive tests were successfully trialled at three schools in 2014 and will be rolled out across NSW from May 2015.

Previously, students could only take the BOSTES Literacy and Numeracy tests in May or September. With the move to CAT, schools can organise their students to take the tests whenever it best suits them.

The introduction of the BOSTES CAT Literacy and Numeracy tests was announced at Xavier College, Llandilo.

Mr Alegounarias thanked the school’s principal, Michael Pate, for supporting the new test format and recognising the benefits it will bring to those students who plan to start a trade, for example, instead of doing the HSC.

BOSTES already uses state of the art technology to support its syllabuses and assessments:

• Program Builder is an online tool for teachers implementing the new K-10 syllabuses in NSW schools designed to make the task of planning lessons to match the new syllabuses much easier.
• Increasingly HSC written examinations are marked online, allowing senior markers to monitor consistency in real-time.