Proficiency Standards - Civics and Citizenship

For the NAP — Civics and Citizenship assessments, proficiency scores are grouped into 6 proficiency levels ranging from below 1 (containing the least difficult items) to 5 (containing the most difficult items) each representing an equal range of student ability/item difficulty on the scale.

The full Civics and Citizenship proficiency scale and descriptions are shown below:

Level scale range	Proficiency level description ⁱ
Level 5	Students working at Level 5 demonstrate accurate civic knowledge of all concepts within Aspect 1 of the NAP – CC Assessment Framework. Using field-specific terminology, and weighing up alternative views, they provide precise and detailed interpretative responses to items involving very complex Civics and Citizenship concepts and also to underlying principles or issues.
Level 4	Students working at Level 4 consistently demonstrate accurate responses to multiple choice items on the full range of complex key Civics and Citizenship concepts or issues. They provide precise and detailed interpretative responses, using appropriate conceptually-specific language, in their constructed responses.
Level 3	Students working at Level 3 demonstrate relatively precise and detailed factual responses to complex key Civics and Citizenship concepts or issues in multiple choice items. In responding to open-ended items they use field-specific language with some fluency and reveal some interpretation of information.
Level 2	Students working at Level 2 demonstrate accurate factual responses to relatively simple Civics and Citizenship concepts or issues in responding to multiple choice items and show limited interpretation or reasoning in their responses to open-ended items they interpret and reason within defined limits across all concepts within Aspect 1 of the NAP – CC Assessment Framework.
Level 1	Students working at Level 1 demonstrate a literal or generalised understanding of simple Civics and Citizenship concepts. Their cognition in responses to multiple choice items is generally limited to civics institutions and processes. In the few open-ended items they use vague or limited terminology and offer no interpretation.
Below Level 1	Students working at below level 1 are able to locate and identify a single basic element of civic knowledge in an assessment task with a multiple choice format.

ⁱFor selected item response descriptors that illustrate the nature of the civics and citizenship content and cognitive processes, which students can make use of when answering questions at the level, please refer to Table 3.5 of the 2010 NAP – Civics and Citizenship Years 6 & 10 Report.

In addition to developing the Civics and Citizenship Literacy proficiency scale, Proficient Standards were established for both Year 6 and Year 10. For the NAP Sample Assessments, Proficient Standards represent points on the proficiency scale that represent a ‘challenging but reasonable’ expectation for typical Year 6 and 10 students to have reached by the end of each of those years of study. So, students need to demonstrate more than minimal or elementary skills to be regarded as having reached the standard appropriate to their year level.

The Year 6 and Year 10 Civics and Citizenship Proficient Standards were set in 2004.
The Proficient Standard for Year 6 was set at level 2 on the Civics and Citizenship proficiency scale. The proficiency standard for Year 10 was set at level 3 on the Civics and Citizenship proficiency scale.