This year’s NAPLAN test results have been released, offering parents a picture of how their child’s school is performing in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.
The results take more than raw marks into account. Here’s a guide to interpreting them.
What does NAPLAN assess?
In March, more than 1.3 million students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sat five NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which oversees the program, says students are assessed on the fundamental literacy and numeracy skills needed to succeed at school and beyond.
The tests measure how students are progressing, and how they stack up against peers of similar backgrounds.
Albanvale Primary School was a top performer in this year’s results.Credit: Joe Armao
ACARA uses a measure called socio-educational advantage – which considers the education level and occupation of parents – to identify schools for which data can be compared on a level playing field.
Overall, the tests help governments identify areas to target resources and give teachers an insight into whether their strategies are working, as well as helping parents and students identify strengths and weaknesses.
How do you read the results?
The results are reported in several ways, including nationally, at state and territory level, and through individual student reports.
The school results can be found through the My School website, which displays a table of the year level’s average results in each of the five areas of testing.
Each student taking the test is awarded a score for their performance across the five study areas.
Within each area of testing by year level, the average score for each school’s results are shown in a colour that indicates how it is tracking against other schools with students of similar backgrounds and how they compare with all Australian students.
Two shades of green show whether the year level is performing above or well above average, and two shades of red indicate whether they are below or well below. If the number appears with no colour, the school is performing close to average.
How do you know if a school is improving?
The results also provide a window into how a school’s students have improved over time.
The My School website display this on the “student progress” page with a line graph that shows how the same students performed in 2025 compared with 2023, when they last sat the test.
A yellow line shows the change in the average score of other students from similar backgrounds, while a blue line shows the school’s results and a grey line shows the average results for all Australian students.
The page also displays the percentage of students who are achieving above-average progress at the school. Each student’s expected results are predicted based on their past performance and their socio-educational background. ACARA then checks the number of students at each school that have achieved higher or lower than expected results.
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