NAPLAN results paint broadly stable picture
Image: ACARA
ACARA // STEPHEN GNIEL
Mr Stephen Gniel, CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, says the 2024 NAPLAN results were similar to last year. More than halfway through the school year and well into Term 3, as a parent to three school aged children, I know it’s been a busy period. Parents and carers of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who participated in this year’s NAPLAN assessment in March will have by now received an Individual Student Report (ISR) of their child’s results from their school. These reports provide useful information for parents and carers on a student’s results in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The results are reported against proficiency standards, which are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing. Along with other school assessment reports, parents and carers can use these NAPLAN reports to discuss their child’s progress with their teacher. Last month, we released the 2024 NAPLAN National Results, which also included state and territory level data, as well as demographic information. Overall, the results in 2024 at a national level were similar to the results in 2023. With the school-level data to follow in December, this latest data shows that while there were small increases and decreases across domains and year levels, generally, the results were broadly stable. On average, across all year levels in reading, writing and numeracy, approximately twothirds of students met ‘challenging but reasonable’ expectations. Over the last two years, schools have adjusted to both the earlier timing of the NAPLAN tests and the changed
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reporting system with new proficiency standards. The fact that the results of Australian students have remained stable through these changes, with no significant difference in average scores, is an important achievement. Before we take a closer look at some of this year’s key findings, it’s important to be clear that we need to be cautious in trying to interpret any clear trends at this early stage of reporting.
“Over the last two years, schools have adjusted to both the earlier timing of the NAPLAN tests and the changed reporting system with new proficiency standards.” This is the second year of data on student performance following the resetting of the measurement scale in 2023 and these results are also from a different cohort of students across Australia. We know that national data rarely shows any significant change over a single year. Over the coming years, we will have more information to look for any trends in literacy and numeracy achievement. For example, next year will provide important information about the performance of the same cohort who sat the assessments in 2023. From 2025 onwards, we will see growth data as cohorts of students move through their schooling. What the 2024 results continue to show is strong performance from Australian
education matters primary
Stephen Gniel.
students in literacy and numeracy: • In reading, across all year levels, 67.0 per cent of students achieved ‘Exceeding’ and ‘Strong’ levels. This increased from Year 3 (66.3 per cent) to Year 5 (71.4 per cent) dropping in Year 7 (67.3 per cent) and again in Year 9 (63.0 per cent). • In writing across all year levels, 67.6 per cent of students achieved ‘Exceeding’ and ‘Strong’ levels. There is a decrease from primary to high school from Year 3 (76.8 per cent) to Year 5 (67.3 per cent), to Year 7 (65.3 per cent) and dropping again in Year 9 (61 per cent). • In numeracy, results are fairly consistent across all year levels with 65.5 per cent students achieving at ‘Exceeding’ and ‘Strong’ levels. This increased from Year 3 (63.5 per cent) to Year 5 (67.8 per cent), remaining relatively stable in in Year 7 (67.2 per cent) and then dropping in Year 9 (63.4 per cent). The demographic results in this year’s tests reflect trends in other national assessments and previous NAPLAN results, with female students continuing to outperform male students in literacy and the opposite being the case in numeracy. Female students outperformed male students in writing, achieving average NAPLAN scores above boys in every year