The National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are conducted in May for all students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 every year. Students are assessed in the assessment domains of reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
In 2018, in general, for Year 3 students, the percentage of students in Australia overall who achieved at or above the national minimum standard was high that between 94% and 96% of students scored at or above the national minimum standard. For spelling, grammar and punctuation, female students outperformed male students. But for numeracy, the performance of female and male students were similar.
For Year 5 students, the percentage of students across Australia who achieved at or above the national minimum standard is high, with approximately 96% achieving the standard in numeracy and approximately 95% achieving the standard in reading. In general, higher percentages of female students achieved at or above the national minimum standard than male students in the four literacy domains, with the smallest difference in reading and the largest difference in writing. In numeracy in most jurisdictions, the percentage of female students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard was close to the percentage of male students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard.
Among Year 7 students, for Australia overall, the percentage of students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard is high, ranging from 87% in writing to 96% in numeracy. For New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT, more than 10% of students achieved at Band 9 or above in numeracy. Nationally, in reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation, a higher percentage of female students achieved at or above the national minimum standard compared with male students. For Australia overall and for most jurisdictions, the differences in writing are approximately 10 percentage points. The differences in numeracy were much smaller, and were accompanied by greater percentages of male students than female students scoring in the two highest achievement bands reported for Year 7 for Australia overall and for all jurisdictions.
Among Year 9 students, for Australia overall, more than 90% of students achieved at or above the national minimum standard in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. In writing, however, less than 80% of students achieved at or above the national minimum standard. In numeracy, the percentage of female students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard is close to the percentage of male students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard. In reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation, a higher percentage of female students than male students achieved at or above the national minimum standard for Australia overall and in most jurisdictions, with differences between 4 percentage points in reading and 13 percentage points in writing. In numeracy, for all jurisdictions and for Australia overall, greater percentages of male students than female students achieved at Band 9 and Band 10. In all other assessment domains, greater percentages of female students than male students achieved in the three highest achievement bands (Band 8, Band 9 and Band 10).
[Source : 2018 NAPLAN results]