Kevin Pope, the principal of Meadow Heights Primary School, says the standardised tests, which are held every May in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, do not contribute positively to education.
''It dumbs down learning and narrows the curriculum. What about thinking, curiosity, music? Its narrow Anglo focus also means it's not inclusive,'' Mr Pope says in a set of papers to be launched tonight as part of the Say No to NAPLAN campaign.
Earlier this year Federal Education Minister Peter Garrett said NAPLAN was a powerful tool that meant the government now had detailed data on how schools and students were performing, identifying where extra support was needed.
He said the $2.5 billion Smarter Schools National Partnerships provided targeted funding to boost teacher quality, improve literacy and numeracy and provide extra support for disadvantaged schools.
But Mr Pope says that in his 20 years as a principal in disadvantaged schools, he has never received one cent more based on the results of testing.
''We have been wasting time based on the myth that test results get deserving schools extra money … Why waste money on useless testing? NAPLAN is an obscene waste of public funds.''
Eighty per cent of the 620 students at Meadow Heights Primary, north of Broadmeadows, live in poverty and 75 per cent are from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
About 42 of 100 new prep students could not speak English this year.
''Some of the children from our 80 refugee families have had no schooling [or minimal schooling] before coming to Australia. However, once they have been here for two years, they are told they too must do NAPLAN,'' Mr Pope said. ''Why can't the school determine whether or not it's appropriate for refugee children to take the test?''
Mr Pope said the school used to hand out official test exemption forms at parent-teacher interviews but the Education Department told the school it was being ''too political'' and had to stop.
Parents have the right to withdraw their children on the grounds of philosophical objections or religious beliefs. Students can also be exempted if they have a significant intellectual disability or have recently arrived in Australia from a non-English-speaking background.
The My School website shows that Meadow Heights Primary students performed substantially below the Australian schools' average in almost every NAPLAN test in 2011.
Mr Pope said if people asked questions about the school's results ''we have to speak from a position of defence''.
''Why can't the government honour the journey these children have made and acknowledge the work of the teachers?''
The paper, one of eight to be launched tonight, will be published at
www.literacyeducators .com.au/naplan
and sent to Mr Garrett and education ministers in each state and territory.
More than 100 academics from universities around Australia earlier this year signed a letter of support for the Say No to NAPLAN campaign.
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