NAPLAN Qld: Students lag minimum standards, participation rate low

Queensland students are failing to turn up for NAPLAN testing, and those that do are lagging the national standards in key skills. SPECIAL REPORT

A shocking one in five Queensland children in Year 9 were withdrawn or absent from this year’s NAPLAN testingas the cohort fell behind its state counterparts in reading and writing.

Queensland had the second lowest participation rate in the majority of testing categories across all year levels, with Year 9 students recording alarming results including 22.1 per cent of students failing to meet the minimum national standard for writing.

More than 250,000 students across Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, took part in this year’s fully online testing in a year disrupted by floods, flu and Covid-19.

The release of the 2022 NAPLAN from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) report revealed some “concerning” trends, with two cohorts undergoing the tests for the first time.

In Year 9 numeracy, 9.4 per cent of Queensland students were officially withdrawn with a

One in five Queensland children in Year 9 were withdrawn or absent from this year’s NAPLAN testing.

further 13.2 per cent absent, meaning more than 20 per cent did not sit the tests.

By comparison, in NSW and Tasmania, less than 2 per cent of children were withdrawn.

Queensland consistently had the worst participation apart from the Northern Territory across all year levels and most disciplines.

Education Minister Grace Grace said Queensland’s low participation rates could indicate a “lack of confidence” from the community about NAPLAN.

“Feedback from parents and teachers shows there are differing community views about the value of NAPLAN,” Ms Grace said.

“While Covid-19 and the flu may have played a part, this may indicate a lack of confidence from the community about NAPLAN in its current form which is a concern.”

While Queensland’s results were “steady” some student cohorts failed to meet the national minimum standard in several subjects, particularly for Year 9.

More than 20 per cent of Queensland Year 9 students (22.1 per cent) failed to meet the minimum national standard for writing.

Queensland’s Year 9 students were behind national minimum standards in all five subjects.

Years 3 and 5 emerged as star students with high performance across the majority of subjects.

Education Minister Grace Grace. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson said NAPLAN should be “put out to pasture” and attention should be turned to issues like the national teacher shortage.

“The union has long opposed NAPLAN as a drain on scarce school resources that is not fit for purpose,” Ms Richardson said.

“This is the union’s position and its 48,000 members, the majority of educators in Queensland.”

The union had last year controversially encouraged its members to withdraw their own children from NAP­LAN with Ms Richardson at the time labelling the results “unreliable”.

Ms Grace said it was important to remember NAP­LAN is only one of the tools used for monitoring students’ progress and assessing their areas of strength and development.

“It is a point-in-time check and is only one of many assessments students undertake to monitor and track their progress,” Ms Grace said.

“While NAPLAN is not the be all and end all, it is troubling to see a national trend of performance plateauing or declining in some areas, which is being seen in Queensland too.”

ACARA chief executive David de Carvalho said the results were “mostly stable” nationally, aside from a decrease in Year 5 numeracy and Year 9 spelling.

Mr de Carvalho said there were steady spikes in national reading levels for Year 3 and 5 while Years 3, 5 and 7 spelling continued to improve.

Despite a decline in Year 5 numeracy, Mr de Carvalho said the long-term national trend was positive.

“Aside from numeracy, the Year 5 results are pleasing as this was the first year this cohort sat NAPLAN tests,” Mr de Carvalho said.

“It will be important to track whether this cohort’s lowest numeracy achievements affects their results in Years 7 and 9.”

NAPLAN RESULTS

Year 3

Reading: 95.1% at or above national minimum standard

Writing: 95.2% at or above national minimum standard

Numeracy: 94.8% at or above national minimum standard

Participation: 6.4% absent or withdrawn in reading, 8.8% absent or withdrawn in writing, 9.6 per cent absent or withdrawn in numeracy

Year 5

Reading: 94.4% at or above national minimum standard

Writing: 89.9% at or above national minimum standard

Numeracy: 94.6% at or above national minimum standard

Participation: 7.4% absent or withdrawn in reading, 8.1% absent or withdrawn in writing, 9.6% absent or withdrawn in numeracy

Year 7

Reading: 93.9% at or above national minimum standard

Writing: 87.1% at or above national minimum standard

Numeracy: 91.1% at or above national minimum standard

Participation: 12.2% absent or withdrawn in reading, 13.1% absent or withdrawn in writing, 15.1% absent or withdrawn in numeracy

Year 9

Reading: 86.8% at or above national minimum standard

Writing: 77.9% at or above national minimum standard

Numeracy: 94.5% at or above national minimum standard

Participation: 19.6% absent or withdrawn in reading, 20.2% absent or withdrawn from writing, 22.6% absent or withdrawn from numeracy