NAPLAN 2024: One in three WA students struggles to read, write and solve problems at their year level

One in three WA kids is struggling with reading, writing and numeracy skills, worrying results from this year’s NAPLAN tests reveal. Around 30 per cent of WA students, on average, scored in the lowest two bands on national literacy and numeracy tests because they were unable to read, write or solve maths problems at the basic level expected for their age. Nearly 1.3 million children from Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat the reading, numeracy, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation tests in March for the National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy. Nationally and across WA, the results showed no meaningful improvement on last year’s, when reporting methods changed and new proficiency benchmarks were set. Students’ skills are now rated in one of four bands — needs additional support, developing, strong and exceeding. In WA, 36.3 per cent of Year 3 students scored marks putting them in the lowest two bands for reading, a greater proportion than the national average of 31.8 per cent. Numeracy was just as dire, with 38.1 per cent of WA kids falling below the proficiency benchmark in Year 3 compared with 34.7 per cent nationally. But the data also showed the proportion of low performers shrank for Year 9 students, who achieved WA’s strongest results. WA Year 9s — including those pictured from St Mark’s Anglican Community School in Hillarys — attained the highest average score in the nation for numeracy. WA had the second highest score — behind the ACT — in Year 9 reading and in grammar and punctuation, and placed third for spelling and writing. Year 9s have been among the nation’s best since WA’s move several years ago to link performance on NAPLAN tests with minimum requirements for high school graduation. Nationally, NAPLAN results also showed that boys continued to outperform girls in numeracy, while girls were far better at writing. The proportion of students needing additional support increased slightly for reading across every year group but decreased for writing. Around one in three Indigenous students was identified as requiring extra support, compared with less than one in 10 non-indigenous students. Stephen Gniel, chief executive for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority which sets the tests, said in the last two years schools had adjusted to NAPLAN’s early timing — brought forward from May — and a changed reporting system. “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,” he said. Mr Gniel cautioned against trying to draw conclusions from just two years of data. “The trends in NAPLAN data are likely to take several years to emerge,” he said. Grattan Institute education analyst Nick Parkinson said WA’s data confirmed the “sobering” results from last year, with no significant improvement. “They paint a worrying picture of equity and excellence in the State’s education system,” he said. “About one in three WA students fell short of the proficiency benchmark. That’s about 45,000 students across the State who aren’t on track with their learning.” Mr Parkinson said he was particularly concerned about how wide the achievement gap was between children whose parents had a university bachelor’s degree and those whose parents did not finish high school. Reading results showed that in Year 3 the gap started at 1.5 years of learning, growing to 5.5 years by Year 9. Mr Parkinson said kids from disadvantaged homes needed more support from schools to arm them with the academic knowledge that affluent children picked up from their home environment. Schools should also be identifying struggling students at an earlier age. “Last year, the WA Government mandated a Year 1 screening check in phonics, but it has not yet set a common test, making it hard to track progress across the State,” he said. “And the Government is yet to commit to a screening check in numeracy.” Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said even though Australia had a good education system, the results showed it could be “a lot better and a lot fairer”. “Your chances in life shouldn’t depend on your parents’ pay packet or the colour of your skin, but these results again show that’s still the case,” he said. “These results show why serious reform is needed and why we need to tie additional funding to reforms that will help students catch up, keep up and finish school — reforms that are included in the next Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. “I have made clear that the additional $16 billion of funding for public schools the Government has put on the table will be tied to practical reforms, like phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidenced-based teaching and catch-up tutoring. “There are no blank cheques here. I want to invest billions into our public schools and I want to make sure that money makes a difference to the kids who really need it.” WA Education Minister Tony Buti pointed to the State’s test participation rate, which was higher than the national average for all year levels, as evidence of schools’ commitment to NAPLAN. “We are really happy to see our Year 9s again performing above the national average,” he said. “What this shows is our Year 9s really have a go at demonstrating the literacy and numeracy skills to meet the demands of everyday life and work. “The results also indicate we need to continue our collective focus and effort for improvement for those students whose results show they need extra help to improve their literacy and numeracy skills. “It is important to remember NAPLAN tests are one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process and don’t show all aspects of students’ progress.” School Curriculum and Standards Authority executive director Juanita Healy said NAPLAN played an important role in giving parents and teachers information about student’s performance at a point in time. “It’s pleasing to see that WA’s Year 9 students have again performed well,” she said. “For students in need of additional support and developing proficiency levels, it is important for schools to identify their needs for literacy and numeracy development as early as possible to provide the support that will help them be successful learners.” St Mark’s principal Steven Davies said NAPLAN gave schools valuable data to monitor learning progress, but the school did not specifically teach students so they would do well in the tests. “Our focus is good teaching throughout all years of our students’ education so that they become literate and numerate young people,” he said. “NAPLAN provides us with evidence along the way that learning is happening as a result of our teachers’ good work with our students.”