WA students continue upward trend in NAPLAN results

Western Australian students have continued to improve in literacy and numeracy results, with the State's Year 9 students making the biggest surge in skills.
  • 2018 NAPLAN Summary Report shows Western Australian students continue to improve in literacy and numeracy skills
  • WA students have improved in 14 out of 20 assessments over more than 10 years' testing 

Western Australian students have continued to improve in literacy and numeracy results, with the State's Year 9 students making the biggest surge in skills.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) released its 2018 National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Summary Report today.

In 2018, WA students' mean (average) achievement in the testing was higher than in 2008 - the first year of NAPLAN - in 14 out of 20 of the assessment areas. These results are for all WA public, private and Catholic schools.

Key areas of improvement for WA students since the base year of testing were:

  • Year 3 - reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy;
  • Year 5 - reading, spelling, and numeracy;
  • Year 7 - spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy; and
  • Year 9 - reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. 

WA students achieved the highest mean scores they have ever had in numeracy (Years 3, 5 and 9), reading (Years 3, 5 and 9), spelling (Years 5 and 9) and grammar and punctuation (Years 5 and 9).

Across the nation, the decline has continued in student performance in writing.

The Minister supports an independent review of the design and construct of NAPLAN Online to ensure any necessary improvements can be made before NAPLAN 2019.

In 2018, 273 Western Australian schools conducted NAPLAN testing online; while students at all other schools did tests on paper.

The summary report is available on the ACARA website. ACARA will release its detailed report later in the year.

Comments attributed to Education and Training Minister Sue Ellery:

"NAPLAN is an important tool for teachers and parents to see how their students, and how their schools, are achieving literacy and numeracy.

"It is encouraging to see that Western Australia's Year 9 students performed well. For example, our Year 9 students were second highest in the nation for reading, numeracy, grammar and punctuation, and third highest for writing and spelling.

"This shows that literacy and numeracy continues to be a clear focus for students in this age group."

Minister's office - 6552 5700