Great results for Queensland in NAPLAN tests

Published Monday, 18 August, 2014 at 05:00 AM

Minister for Education, Training and Employment
The Honourable John-Paul Langbroek

Queensland students have recorded some of their highest ever scores in the history of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests.

Following today’s release of the NAPLAN summary report, Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek congratulated Queensland students on their impressive and improving performance.

“Our students have recorded results that are better than we’ve seen in the last seven years of testing,” Mr Langbroek said.

“Queensland now ranks fourth in the proportion of students achieving the national standard on all strands in Years 3 and 5 – with the exception of writing.

“This is a great result considering our ranking was seventh for these year levels in 2008.

“I’m thrilled to see that we are edging even closer to reaching our goal of being one of the top performing states by 2020.”

Mr Langbroek said the NAPLAN summary report provided a valuable snapshot of literacy and numeracy standards across the state, as well as identifying areas that need greater attention.

He said Queensland was releasing the results almost a month earlier than in previous years.

“My team has a relentless focus on achieving better student outcomes and by getting the data out quickly we enable schools to analyse the results and make meaningful changes sooner rather than later,” Mr Langbroek said.

Mr Langbroek said that while Queensland had clearly come a long way since testing began in 2008, there was still more work to be done.

“The steady overall improvement in results is due to the hard work of teachers, principals, families and the students themselves,” he said.

“We anticipate improved Year 7 results again next year when the first Prep Year students enter high school and as we roll out a range of initiatives and targeted funding.

“This includes the first round of mentor teachers under the Great Teachers=Great Results initiative and funding for literacy and numeracy skills through the $131 million Great Results Guarantee.

“We have also allocated $54 million to provide a further 9,000 teacher aide hours.”

Mr Langbroek said the State Government’s new School Performance Assessment Framework was the next step and would help drive a new era of improvement and accountability in state schools.

He said the reform measures included the establishment of a dedicated School Improvement Unit.

“The Queensland Government is committed to revitalising education for all students – giving them the great start in life that their families expect and deserve,” he said.

2014 NAPLAN Test Highlights

  • Year 3 and 5 students are the stand out performers again this year, recording Queensland’s highest NAPLAN performance to date in many areas.
  • More than 92 per cent of Year 3 and 5 students achieved at or above the national standard across reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.
  • Year 3 students posted their highest average results ever in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy but they also posted their lowest result in writing.
  • A similar pattern is also evident for our Year 5 students.
  • More Queensland Year 3 and 5 students than ever before are achieving the upper bands of performance in NAPLAN in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation and numeracy.
  • Year 7 and 9 students also scored well with more than 94 per cent of students achieving the national standard or better in numeracy.
  • On average, Year 9 students posted their best result on record in numeracy, whilst Year 7 students posted their best results on record in reading and grammar and punctuation.
  • Nine out of 10 Queensland students are achieving at or above the national standard in four out of five areas of testing.
  • Writing is the one NAPLAN area that continues to be a challenge for Queensland students across all year levels. The drop in writing scores was a nation-wide trend.
  • Looking at the 2014 mean scores, writing results in Australia are the worst on record for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The national summary report of 2014 NAPLAN results will be released today by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority. The report will be available online at www.naplan.edu.au.

NAPLAN results for each school will be published today on the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) website at www.qcaa.qld.edu.au.

[ENDS] 18 August 2014

Media contact: Amy Cobb 0418 996 503