Victorian students have achieved outstanding results in this year’s NAPLAN with the detailed breakdown of results showing the State was the best-performing jurisdiction in Australia.
Announced by Minister for Education, James Merlino, the NAPLAN 2021 National Report shows Victoria had the highest number of students performing at or above the national minimum standard of any State or Territory on 13 of the 20 NAPLAN measures, while the ACT was the next-best jurisdiction with five out of 20.
“Victoria has also improved on its results since 2019 in half of the assessed measures – including the critically important foundational Reading skills in both Year 3 and Year 5 – despite the challenges of the pandemic,” Mr Merlino said.
“The Report shows that, while many Victorian students and families have faced profound challenges over the past two years, fears of a loss of learning as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have not eventuated,” he said.
“Those predicted to be most affected by remote learning, including Koorie, rural and regional students, had better Reading results at the primary level this year than in 2019.”
Mr Merlino said Koorie students improved in Reading from 2019 to 2021 in Years 3, 5 and 7, and rural and regional primary students also improved their reading levels in Years 3 and 5.
The Minister said the NAPLAN results also indicated that more Victorian students than ever before were performing highly, with the percentage of Year 3 students who scored in the top two bands for Reading rising from 58 per cent in 2019 to 61.9 per cent in 2021.
He said for Year 5 students, this figure rose from 40.4 per cent to 44.8 per cent.
“There is still work to do, particularly in numeracy, in every jurisdiction across Australia – and Maths will be a strong area of focus for schools throughout 2022,” Mr Merlino said.
