WA kids falling behind NAPLAN average

Results of the 2023 NAPLAN tests have shown WA kids in years 3, 5, and 7 are behind the national average in every subject.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy underwent a major change this year, with grading reduced from the old six band system, to four categories; Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs Additional Support.

David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, said the new reporting system more clearly and simply shows NAPLAN achievement, identifying where expectations are being met.

“Importantly, with expectations set at a higher level than in previous years, the new reporting is showing those areas where we need to focus our efforts on supporting more students to meet expectations and succeed,” Mr de Carvalho said.

“The results also continue to highlight the educational disparities of students from non-urban areas, Indigenous Australian heritage and those with low socio-educational backgrounds.”

The results show around 10 per cent of WA students across all year groups and domains fell into the ‘Needs additional support’ band.

Those numbers only go up in the regions. Busselton and much of the South West is classed as inner regional, and in that subgroup in WA, more than 20 per cent of year three students need additional support with grammar and punctuation.

The results aren’t all bad though. WA’s Year 9 students have the highest mean scores for Year 9 numeracy in Australia. The national average is 63.9 per cent, while WA Year 9 students scored 69.4 per cent.

The percentage of WA students meeting meeting or exceeding expectations is above the Australian percentages for all Year 9 tests and Year 7 spelling.

“While it’s pleasing to see strong participation and a majority of students meeting the higher literacy and numeracy expectations, the national results also indicate that we still have work to do in meeting the needs of all of our students,” WA Education minister Tony Buti said.

“With around 10 per cent of our students across all year groups and tests sitting in the Needs additional support proficiency level, our focus on literacy and numeracy must continue.”

The persistent gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students remained substantial this year, with marks for Indigenous kids as much as 100 points below their non-Indigenous counterparts in some areas. Many areas also showed a drop in scores compared to last year.

There also remains a large gulf between girls and boys. About twice as many boys as girls fell into the ‘needs additional support’ band. WA girls outscored the boys in every domain across every year group, except for numeracy, where boys of every year group scored higher.

A school-by-school breakdown of NAPLAN results is expected to be released in December as part of the My School report.