2014 preliminary NAPLAN results released

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has released the preliminary results from the 2014 National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test. The test, which was held across Australia earlier this year, is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It is not a test of curriculum content, but instead examines skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.

Key facts

This year's results show a decline in writing test scores across all year levels, compared to scores from previous years. The scores were the lowest recorded since the decision was made to switch the writing genre from narrative to persuasive in 2011. This decline has been attributed to this year's stimulus writing about a rule or law that should change. ACARA chief executive Robert Randall has admitted there is a chance the question was too complex for younger students. An additional variable is that ACARA did not give schools advance notice as to which writing style would be tested, hoping to prevent schools from ˜teaching to the test'. The most significant decline in scores was noted for Year 3 students scores in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria were all significantly lower than in 2013.
Results for New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland across all other areas including reading, punctuation and grammar, and numeracy were above or consistent with previous years' scores. While there were some improvements when compared to the 2008 base year, there were no notable differences in 2013 and 2014 scores.
Queensland saw an improvement in reading, spelling, numeracy, and grammar and punctuation across most year levels when compared to the 2008 base year, with the biggest improvement noted for Year 3 grammar and punctuation scores, which saw a substantial improvement (with 93.8 per cent at or above the national minimum standard in 2014, compared to 85.6 per cent in 2008). These improvements have largely been attributed to the introduction of Prep into Queensland primary schools in 2007.
New South Wales and Victorian results (mean scores) were largely consistent with previous years, with slight improvements seen in Year 5 reading scores for Victoria and Year 3 grammar and punctuation scores in New South Wales, when compared to the base year.

Percentage of students at or above the national minimum standard 2014 preliminary results

Learning area	Year level	New South Wales	Victoria	Queensland	National
Reading	Year 3	94.8	94.8	93.5	93.6
	Year 5	93.6	94.3	92.8	92.9
	Year 7	95.2	95.4	94.5	94.8
	Year 9	92.4	92.9	90.9	91.8
Persuasive Writing	Year 3	94.8	95.2	93.1	93.8
	Year 5	91.7	93.2	87.5	90.3
	Year 7	89.0	90.4	85.9	88.5
	Year 9	80.8	85.4	79.5	81.7
Spelling	Year 3	94.4	93.9	92.2	92.8
	Year 5	94.1	93.6	92.5	92.8
	Year 7	93.8	93.5	91.5	92.5
	Year 9	91.0	90.7	89.1	89.8
Grammar and Punctuation	Year 3	94.6	94.7	93.8	93.5
	Year 5	93.8	94.2	92.7	92.9
	Year 7	93.6	93.7	92.0	92.7
	Year 9	90.2	91.1	89.0	89.7
Numeracy	Year 3	95.4	95.6	94.7	94.7
	Year 5	94.2	94.7	93.0	93.3
	Year 7	95.5	95.6	95.4	95.2
	Year 9	94.5	94.7	94.3	94.2