Download Naplan Results
Simone Alwang
Just like every year, some students will bring home results that are lower than what they hoped for. If this happens to your child, you can play an important role in helping them overcome some of the disappointment and limit any impact on their wellbeing.
Regardless of what NAPLAN results say, teachers are the ones who spend every day watching your student grow. They are constantly assessing learning, and they will be able to explain how your student is doing and how to interpret NAPLAN scores more holistically.
A number of Catholic schools have been recognised by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for the encouraging outcomes achieved by students in the latest NAPLAN results.
National Catholic education executive director Jacinta Collins said that NAPLAN results across Catholic schools are encouraging with schools performing above or well above the national average in all of the domains tested.
Due to the changes, there was a decline in results nationally, with 33 per cent of WA students falling short of the new proficiency standard on average, across all years and subjects, while 65 per cent achieved the required standard.
He said he believed the success at the school was down to an understanding that \\u201CNAPLAN itself is not the driver, but the results can provide some evidence indicating areas for improvement.\\u201D
The 2023 NAPLAN results further emphasise the issue, demonstrating that nearly 10% of students require additional assistance to meet minimum literacy and numeracy standards. Concerningly, this is an increase on the previous results, where 7% of students were not meeting the minimum standards. Those numbers are even higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote parts of the Northern Territory.
As a first step, education ministers should introduce a nationally consistent year 1 phonics check, to systematically identify students who struggle with essential early literacy skills. England adopted this approach in 2012, and its reading results have improved markedly since.
Since being familiar with the test can reduce anxiety, you might decide your child should try some practice tests if they feel anxious about it. Since some schools use NAPLAN results to allow students admission into gifted and talented programs, you may want to give your child the opportunity to become familiar with the test.
These results tell us that as a country we are not doing particularly well at neutralising the effects of disadvantage, whether this is through location or as reflected in levels of parental education and occupation.
However, testing in March, with results released in July, in effect leaves less time for teachers to analyse the data and make use of it, or for schools to make educational improvements in that year. Indeed, a research study conducted in 2022 found teachers make limited or no use of NAPLAN.
This capability needs to be developed at school level so that when NAPLAN results are published in July, schools can exploit term-three conversations with students, parents and teachers, where these diagnostic results are discussed in tandem with semester one reports, thereby providing parents and students with a clearer learning map for 2023 that uses an Assessment for Learning and Assessment as Learning approach over the traditional Assessment of Learning approach.
The release of the results, one term later in July 2023, also means that although the tests are carried out online and earlier, the biggest disadvantage for the student and their parents remains unaddressed.
Further, by the time tests are administered in mid-March, most schools, student placement and diagnostic tests have already been completed. Releasing test results in July means that half the year of student learning is over, making it challenging for schools to expedite access to necessary learning programs that assist students immediately.
Next, correlating NAPLAN results with school semester two reports would provide their next year-level teachers with enough diagnostic data to be able to begin work on tailoring learning programs for the start of the next school year.
Principals and education experts said the expected July release of 2023 individual and school-level NAPLAN results was a wasted opportunity to give teachers more time to use the data to help students grow their numeracy and literacy skills.
The NAPLAN test underwent two important changes this year that were meant to give schools earlier access to their results. The test was held in mid-March instead of May, and all students did the test online for the first time.
Fernandes said students who sat the test in term one would not have had time to master concepts for their new year level, while teachers who receive results in term three would have insufficient chance to help students whose results indicate they need extra support.
NAPLAN reporting will also be simplified when results are released this year, with the number of proficiency bands students are split into dropping from 10 to four categories: exceeding, strong, developing and needing additional support.
One of the criticisms of NAPLAN in previous years was that by the time schools received their results in term three, it was too late to use, Victorian Association of State Schools president Colin Axup said.
Philip Cachia, principal of St Francis Xavier Primary School in Montmorency, said testing students in March and giving schools the results in July was potentially less useful than the previous NAPLAN schedule.
Principals and education experts said the expected July release of 2023 individual and school-level NAPLAN results was a wasted opportunity to give teachers more time to use the data to help students grow their numeracy and .
NAPLAN was shifted to March \\u201Cso the results would be available earlier in the year to inform teaching and learning programs\\u201D, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority said in the week students sat the test this year.
Victorian principals were told by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority last week that their schools should expect to receive their results in \\u201Cmid to late July\\u201D, during term three. In previous years results have come in late August or early September, also in term three.
Gail Major, the executive principal of Scoresby Secondary College, said the school had hoped the earlier testing would enable authorities to release the results earlier, so it could \\u201Cput in place targeted improvement opportunities earlier so they would be more impactful\\u201D.
For national reporting, 2023 will mark the start of a new time series, now that all students are online and the tests are being held in March instead of May. Results from 2023 on will not be directly compared with results from 2008 to 2022.
NAPLAN results released on Wednesday show that on almost every test \\u2013 reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy \\u2013 a higher percentage of Queensland students were given the lowest score than in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.
The National Assessment Program \\u2013 Literacy and Numeracy was overhauled this year, with previous minimum standards replaced with four proficiency categories and new, higher benchmarks. This means the results cannot be compared with previous years.
In Queensland, about one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieved \\u201Cstrong\\u201D or \\u201Cexceeding\\u201D results, compared with almost two-thirds of non-Indigenous children.
Students in major Queensland cities were also advantaged, with 65.7 per cent receiving \\u201Cstrong\\u201D or \\u201Cexceeding\\u201D results, compared with just 25.9 per cent in very remote Queensland.
By moving the testing period to an earlier date, the NAPLAN results are available earlier, to allow teachers to assess what support students may need in the coming year and to better inform teaching and learning programs.
We know that these test results are just a single measure of how our students are doing, but they allow us to see how students are progressing over time and assist us in making professional judgements about our programs and pathways.
Bureaucrats may refer to an achievement gap between students (and between schools) but what they mean is a test score gap. Since the test assesses very limited aspects of learning, the results cannot be used to make claims about overall achievement.
Participation in NAPLAN is lower for Indigenous students in remote Australia. In 2018, participation by Indigenous students ranged from around 90 per cent for Years 3 and 5 in Major Cities and regional areas, to 49 per cent for Year 9 students in Very Remote areas. Low participation can skew the measurement of results, as students who were absent or withdrawn from NAPLAN are more likely to have relatively poor reading and numeracy outcomes (COAG Reform Council 2012, Thompson 2013).
[2] The target as originally agreed in 2008 also included writing results. However, due to a change in the test from narrative to persuasive writing, the writing results from 2011 onwards cannot be directly compared to the results from previous years, and so have been excluded.
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