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ACARA's expertise

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is the independent authority responsible for the management and development of the National Assessment Program (NAP).

ACARA employs a core group of highly skilled staff who work with a wide range of partners to oversee the delivery of the National Assessment Program.  In addition to teams that manage all aspects of NAPLAN and NAP Sample Assessments, including the management of related contracts, ACARA has a team dedicated to research and providing evidence-based recommendations on improvements to the National Assessment Program.  The research team works closely with the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Australia and is able to access their expertise.

ACARA manages external expert professionals to develop fundamental aspects of the NAP. These include contractors responsible for:

  • NAPLAN test item development (eg NAPLAN ‘item writers’)
  • providing vision access reviews and special print versions of NAPLAN tests
  • development, delivery and reporting on the NAP Sample Assessments
  • central analysis of data
  • running the ‘equating’ tests

NAP contractors, employed by ACARA, are experts held in high regard in their relevant professional fields, and are subject to rigorously upheld requirements when working with ACARA.

Test Administration Authorities are the government departments or agencies responsible for the implementation and administration of the NAPLAN tests in their state or territory. ACARA staff work with the Test Administration Authority in each state and territory to ensure the administration of NAPLAN is nationally consistent.

For NAPLAN, ACARA also works with an Expert Advisory Panel. This group is made up of five assessment and educational measurement experts who provide advice throughout the NAPLAN test development process. The group is recognised as a formal advisory panel within the ACARA governance structure, sitting alongside ACARA’s other advisory groups.  Membership of this group is recorded in ACARA’s Annual Report.