NAPLAN tests disrupted by tech issue on first day

A “widespread” technology issue with the online platform used for NAPLAN standardised testing forced schools to pause tests on the first day.

Around 1.4 million students from over 9400 schools and campuses across Australia were expected to take part in this year’s government-run tests.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) confirmed the problems in a social media post, and attributed them to its technology provider.

“We are aware of a widespread issue affecting students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their NAPLAN assessments,” ACARA said.

“This issue is being urgently investigated by our technology provider, Education Services Australia, who run the platform.  

“Schools have been advised to pause testing while this is being investigated.”

NAPLAN is a national assessment of the literacy and numeracy proficiency of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It is intended to provide a periodic view of how proficiency develops over time.

ACARA said in an update on social media that the issues were resolved just after midday, allowing testing to resume.

"NAPLAN testing has now resumed following a widespread issue earlier this morning, which affected students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their assessments," it said.

"We apologise for the disruption to students and schools, and thank them for their patience. The issue has now been resolved, and schools have been informed they can resume testing.

"We continue to monitor the platform to ensure students are able to complete their assessments without further issues."

It did not say what the cause of the outage was.