Victorian kids have recorded the nation’s highest NAPLAN results and huge improvements on previous years.
Minister for Education, James Merlino said the extraordinary work of students, teachers, support staff and families across Government and non-Government schools had seen the State improve its NAPLAN results in several key areas since 2019.
“Victorian Year 3 students are top of the class in Reading, Numeracy, and Grammar and Punctuation, while Year 5s lead the nation in Reading, Numeracy, Writing, and Grammar and Punctuation,” Mr Merlino said.
“Year 7 students improved in Reading, Writing and Spelling compared to 2019, achieving the highest scores of any jurisdiction for the skills of Reading and Numeracy,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Year 9s topped the nation in Spelling.”
Mr Merlino said the number of Year 5 students achieving in the top two bands for Reading had increased from 36.9 per cent in 2015 to 45.5 per cent this year.
The Minister said this translated to 13,000 more Year 3 and Year 5 students working at the highest reading levels since 2015.
“Since 2015, the number of students in the bottom two bands for Reading has decreased by eight per cent at Year 5 and two per cent in Year 3 – that’s 8,100 more Victorian kids who now have the foundational literacy and numeracy skills to succeed in life,” he said.
Mr Merlino said in secondary schools, more students were achieving the top two bands of Reading compared to 2019 and there were less students in the bottom two bands.
He said that for the first time, certificates would be awarded to almost 19,000 Year 9 students who had excelled in NAPLAN, or significantly improved their results, to recognise excellence and keep them engaged and motivated.
“It is likely that the disruptions of the pandemic had a greater impact on students’ numeracy than literacy development, and the Government will take action to ensure maths skills continue to grow through increased support to school staff with professional guidance and resources,” Mr Merlino said.
