Same NAPLAN level as two years ago: no progress?

It is one of the most worrying moments in the NAPLAN calendar. You open the report for Year 5 and your child's result is in the same band as it was in Year 3. Surely that means they have stood still?

ACARA, which runs NAPLAN, says no, and explains why.

What ACARA says

In its FAQ on results and reports, ACARA answers this exact question. A student whose Year 3 numeracy result was in "Developing" and is still in "Developing" in Year 5 has not necessarily stood still. Reaching a given proficiency level takes harder skills and deeper understanding in each later NAPLAN year, so a student who lands in the same level in successive years may well be moving forward.

Think of a ladder where each rung is higher up on the wall as you climb. Staying on "the same rung" in a taller ladder still means you have moved up.

The four levels

Each child's result falls into one of four proficiency levels, separately for each area tested and each year group:

• Exceeding
• Strong
• Developing
• Needs additional support

The results and reports page explains that the standards describe what students are expected to achieve when they sit NAPLAN each March. They are meant to be challenging yet fair for where students are in their learning. NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test.

"Needs additional support" is a new name for a new idea. ACARA states it is not the old national minimum standard: the earlier measure identified too few students who needed help and could give the impression that a student above it had met learning expectations. The new level is meant to pick out students who may not be progressing satisfactorily at school. Students in other levels may still need support in particular areas, though a student in "Developing" will probably need more of it than one in "Exceeding" or "Strong".

What is on the report

The individual student report places your child's result in each area, shows how it compares with the national average and with the middle 60% of students in that year level, and gives examples of the skills usually shown at each level. Detailed descriptions of those skills for every year level and domain are on the proficiency level descriptions page.

A very useful exercise is to open the Year 3 descriptions and the Year 5 descriptions for the same level side by side. You will see the skills expected for "Developing" are not the same in the two years.

A worked comparison: numeracy "Developing" in Year 3 and Year 5

ACARA's descriptions make the point concrete. For Year 3 numeracy, a student in "Developing" can typically quantify and compare collections to 100, add and subtract numbers with one or two digits, work through straightforward multiplication and the division problems linked to it, and read time on a clock to the hour and half-hour.

For Year 5 numeracy, a student in "Developing" can typically compare and order numbers to 10 000, compare fractions, represent tenths as decimals, solve single-step problems that include division, and compare times by converting between common units.

Both children are "Developing". Yet the Year 5 child is working with bigger numbers, fractions and decimals, which the Year 3 child was not yet expected to handle. A child who could do the Year 3 list at eight and the Year 5 list at ten has learnt a great deal, even though the label has not changed. The descriptions are summaries of what students can generally do and are not a checklist for any one child, as ACARA points out.

Comparing across years: which results can you compare?

ACARA's guidance is clear:

• Results for 2023 onwards can be compared with one another.
• Results from 2008 to 2022 can be compared with one another.
• A result from before 2023 cannot be set directly beside one from 2023 or later. New measurement scales better suited to online testing arrived alongside the new proficiency standards, and the tests moved from Term 2 to Term 1.

So if your older child has a Year 5 report from 2021 and a Year 7 report from 2023, the numbers cannot be lined up as a trend. Look at the proficiency level and the descriptions instead, and ask the school.

What to do with a result

The report is a conversation starter, not a verdict. ACARA suggests families use it with other school assessment reports to talk with the teacher about strengths and areas for improvement. A few questions that work well:

1. What does my child do well in this area in class?
2. Does the report match what you see in their classwork?
3. Is there one specific skill we could work on at home?
4. Do you think extra support in this area is worth considering, and what would it look like?

NAPLAN is a single snapshot in March. Writing is marked against a rubric, and reading and numeracy adapt to the student, so a result reflects the pathway the student took through the test. Teachers see much more than one test can, and ACARA itself says each student's teacher has the best insight into their progress.

If you need another copy

ACARA does not hold individual reports and cannot issue replacements. Contact the school. If the school has no copy to hand, it can ask the state or territory test administration authority. Parents should not contact the authority directly.

Where to go next

• Do you need to prepare for NAPLAN?
• Which test is which: NAPLAN, OC and Selective
• Our guides explain how to read a NAPLAN report in more detail.

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Not affiliated with ACARA or the NSW Department of Education.