NAPLAN results 2025: How South Australian students stack up against the rest of the nation

Has SA been able to shrink that gap with students in the other states? See how our kids fared in their 2025 NAPLAN exams.

• NAPLAN results reveal alarming trend

Reading skills are on the rise among South Australian students and the gender gap between boys and girls is closing.

The latest national literacy and numeracy tests show SA has improved, or maintained, its ranking against the other mainland states in every subject and year level.

The biggest improvement was in year 5 reading, where SA rose from fifth to third when ranked against New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania.

Year 3 students also rose one spot – from fourth to third – in numeracy and grammar.

And the gender gap between boys and girls is narrowing when it comes to reading, writing and spelling skills.

Education Minister Blair Boyer has declared the scores “the best NAPLAN results South Australian students have ever achieved”.

Mr Boyer attributed the improvements to “investments in curriculum and mental health and wellbeing support”, and a renewed focus on numeracy teaching.

“It’s really encouraging to now see more students landing in the top two bands for numeracy,” he said.

“It is reassuring to see that the work our schools and teachers are putting in is paying off.”

The rankings are based on a comparison of the average NAPLAN score achieved by students in each state.

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) also shows how many students are meeting national benchmarks.

Students are grouped into four categories: needing additional support, still developing skills, has a strong grasp of concepts or exceeding expectations.

In 2025, about one in five boys across all year levels needed additional support with grammar.

More than a quarter of year 9 girls exceeded expectations in writing.

These groupings were introduced in 2023, when ACARA shifted from a prior system which grouped students into 10 bands.

This is the first year it is possible to compare results for the same cohort of students under the new system.

For example, the proportion of students in year 3 who met national grammar standards in 2023 rose 10 per cent by the time the same group were in year 5 this year.

The overall results also show:

YEAR 7 and 9 students improved their average scores in every subject compared to last year.

YEAR 3 students posted lower average scores in reading, writing and grammar.

YEAR 5 students recorded lower average scores in writing and grammar.

AN increased proportion of boys met national literacy standards, relative to girls, in 11 out of 16 categories across all year levels.

THE biggest gain was for year 5 boys, who narrowed a more than 10-point gap in reading in 2023 to less than 7 per cent this year.

Education Minister Blair Boyer says the 2025 NAPLAN results are the best on record for South Australian students. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Opposition education spokeswoman Heidi Girolamo suggested the results reflected, in part, the long-term impact of policies put in place by the former Liberal government, such as literacy coaches and mandating phonics instruction.

“This back-to-basics, evidence-based approach to teaching has laid a strong foundation in reading, writing and mathematics, giving South Australian students the essential skills they need to reach their full potential,” she said.

Participation rates for NAPLAN tests in 2025 sat around 96 per cent of students, except in Year 9 when the rate dropped to about 93 per cent.

NAPLAN tests were conducted online in March

ACARA says students use a closed system which prevents them from using artificial intelligence or spellcheck functions.

There were, however, seven security breaches reported and another 44 “general” breaches across the country – on par with previous years.

Individual school results will be released later in the year.