ICAS vs NAPLAN – key differences for parents to know
If your child’s school is participating in the ICAS competition, you may be wondering how it differs from NAPLAN.
ICAS and NAPLAN have entirely unique purposes, and in this article, we provide a simple breakdown of the key differences between the two so that you can better understand what they are for.
1. ICAS is a motivational competition, NAPLAN is a series of progression tests
ICAS is an academic competition designed to challenge and motivate students to achieve great things. NAPLAN is a series of tests that assess students’ literacy and numeracy skills, to identify their current levels and how much they have progressed from previous years. With this information, schools can make informed decisions about which students need extra support in literacy and numeracy.
While ICAS also assesses literacy and numeracy as part of its English, Writing, Spelling Bee and Mathematics tests, and provides performance insights for each, the primary purpose of the competition is to push students to their academic limits (in a fun way) and celebrate their achievements. This is the main way that it differs from NAPLAN. In a nutshell, you can say that ICAS is motivational for students, and NAPLAN is educational for schools and teachers.
Both ICAS and NAPLAN are low-stake tests, which means they don’t have a significant impact on your child’s future (in the way that senior HSC/QCE scores affect entry into certain universities). You could argue that NAPLAN does have a significant impact because it (ideally) leads to more support for students who need it, but this doesn’t make it a high-stakes test in the traditional sense.
Regarding the types of questions in each test, they both contain a variety of formats like multiple-choice, free-form writing, drag and drop and more.
2. ICAS is harder than NAPLAN. It identifies high-achievers, whereas NAPLAN analyses all achievement
As an academic competition, ICAS is designed to be challenging. The test questions typically start off at what might be considered an average level of difficulty for the student’s grade (what teachers call “at grade level”), and usually get harder as the test goes on (what teachers call “above grade level”).
By contrast, NAPLAN is designed to gain a broad understanding of skill level, so the questions are a mixture of easy questions (below grade level), average questions (at grade level) and hard questions (above grade level). This helps teachers identify which students need support, which are on par for their grade, and which may benefit from additional “enrichment” work. It also gives school leaders a general idea of literacy and numeracy performance for the entire school, and where changes may be needed.
3. ICAS tests six subjects, NAPLAN tests four skills
ICAS has six tests, each one for a unique subject/skill that roughly covers the national curriculums for Australia and other countries:
NAPLAN is focused solely on literacy and numeracy – the foundational skills that underpin all other subjects. There are four tests that cover the following sub-skills for literacy and numeracy:
- Reading
- Writing
- Language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
- Numeracy
When ICAS is complete and the results are processed, schools and parents can access a variety of reports that help them understand student performance in detail (more info on school reports here, and parent reports here).
NAPLAN also includes results reports for parents, which are sent to the school and passed onto parents at their discretion.
4. ICAS is for Years 2 to 12, NAPLAN is for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9
The ICAS competition is for students from Year 2 through to Year 12, but not every subject is available for every year (e.g. Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies is only available for Years 2 to 7 – see full subject availability here).
The NAPLAN exams are taken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The gaps in Years 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 can be filled with an alternative progression test, like our very own Reach.
5. ICAS runs in August, NAPLAN runs in March
The ICAS competition runs throughout August in Term 3, when schools tend to be less busy. This testing period also avoids a clash with NAPLAN, which runs in March.
6. ICAS is a global competition, NAPLAN is for Australia only
ICAS runs in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and many other countries. Thousands of schools participate each year.
NAPLAN is an initiative by the Australian Government, and so is restricted to Australian schools only.
ICAS vs NAPLAN – side-by-side comparison
Is your child sitting NAPLAN or ICAS soon? You might want to check out our online practice platform RiSE+, which has dedicated tests for both and can help your child achieve their best possible scores.
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