NAPLAN results a mixed bag for Tasmania with improvements in past year but overall performance is still behind the national average
Tasmanian Year 3 students shone in the latest NAPLAN testing, with the latest testing results showing where the state sits in relation to the other states and territories. SEE ALL THE RESULTS
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
TASMANIAN schools remain below the national average across the board, but some inroads have been made in the last year in reading and writing standards, the latest NAPLAN test results show.
The National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy preliminary results for the 2019 round of testing have been released today.
The annual literacy and numeracy assessment is for all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
Tasmanian Year 3 students continue to be the state’s top performers for meeting national standards.
But, all students rated slightly below the national average in all categories.
MORE NAPLAN:
TASMANIAN GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION RESULTS
Year 3 students results were up in all categories except for spelling and a slight downturn in numeracy, but with 95.3 per cent still meeting the national minimum standards for that category.
The youngest cohort also tested well for reading, with 95 per cent meeting the national standard as well as 95.9 per cent for writing.
Year 5 results were steady across all categories except grammar and punctuation, which was down 3.1 per cent on last year and 3.7 per cent behind the national average for 2019.
Significant improvements were seen in the category of writing for each grade tested, with the number of Year 9s meeting the standard increasing by 6.3 per cent compared to last year.
Across all grades, spelling continued to be a weak spot, particularly for Year 9 students whose results were 5.1 per cent below the national average.
The performance of Year 9s in grammar and punctuation also dropped from last year and was 3.7 per cent behind the national average.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said about 25,000 Tasmanian students from all government, Catholic and the vast majority of independent schools completed the 2019 NAPLAN tests.
He said while the overall results were “encouraging”, they also showed numeracy and spelling needed to remain areas of future focus.
“Literacy and numeracy skills are the foundation for achievement in all areas of learning and for a person to be able to participate in work and life,” Mr Rockliff said.
“The ... Government’s commitment to improving educational outcomes in Tasmania is demonstrated by our record $7.1 billion investment in education in this year’s budget.
“We have invested significantly in literacy and numeracy initiatives, including our recently launched Literacy Framework and Plan for Action, and our commitment to providing access to a literacy coach for every Tasmanian government school. Work is also now underway to develop a numeracy framework.”
Tasmanian Principals Association president Sally Milbourne said schools regularly performed other internal testing to provide a picture of how students were tracking.
“There are lots of measures of what students’ performances are,” she said.
“NAPLAN has been around for 10 years now and they are looking to review it, in part to see if it’s doing what it’s designed to do.
“Principals will look at it as one piece of data, but it’s not the only piece.”
The finalised NAPLAN results and individual school data will be released at a later date.
Tootie is more than just a purr-fect face
Tootie’s resounding success at Tassie cat shows hasn’t got to his head, stepping up to the plate when owner was diagnosed with cancer. Now, he’s has a special celebration coming up.
Man accused of exposing himself at Royal Park charged
Police have laid charges over an incident at a Launceston park. Elsewhere overnight, a house was destroyed by fire and a pedestrian injured by a car.