The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students’ NAPLAN scores are used to place them in one of four proficiency standards for each assessment domain in their year level. The 4 proficiency levels are:

• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

This report focuses on the percentage of students who fall within the ‘Needs additional support” proficiency level.

In 2024,

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• SA has a higher percentage of Year 9 students who “Needs additional support” than to the national average for all three test domains: numeracy, reading and writing.
• In 2024, 12% of SA Year 9 students received “Needs additional support” in numeracy, 13.1% in reading and 13.7% in writing, in comparison with national averages of 10.4% in numeracy, 11.1% in reading and 11.6% in writing.
• SA has a lower percentage of students receiving “Needs additional support” for all testing domains than Qld, TAS and NT.

In 2024:

• Male students in SA had a higher proportion of “Needs additional support” than female students in SA: 16% vs 9.6%.
• Year 9 students from very remote areas of SA were two and half times likely to score within the “Needs additional support” compared with Year 9 students from metropolitan areas of SA: 28% vs 11%.
• Parental education and Parental occupation had the same pattern across Year 9 SA students: students with parents who have higher levels of education or work are less likely to “Need additional support”. 5% of students whose parents have a bachelor degree scored within the “Needs additional support” vs 28% of students whose parents highest education level is Year 11.

Data Source: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students’ NAPLAN scores are used to place them in one of four proficiency standards for each assessment domain in their year level. The 4 proficiency levels are:

• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

This report focuses on the sum total of the percentage of students who fall within the “Exceeding”, “Strong” and “Developing” proficiency levels, termed in our report as “At or above year level standard”.

In 2024:

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• SA is roughly on par with the national average for Aboriginal Year 9 students achieving at or above year level standard in all domains.
• In 2024, 63.3% of SA Year 9 Aboriginal students were at or above year level standard in numeracy, 65.1% in reading and 63.3% in writing, in comparison with national averages of 65.1% in numeracy, 65.8% in reading and 63.8% in writing.
• SA has a higher percentage of Year 9 students at or above year level standards for all testing domains than Qld, WA (except in writing) and NT.

In 2024, Aboriginal Year 9 students from very remote areas of SA were 10% lower in students receiving at or above year level standard compared to SA’s state average: 64% vs 71%.

Data Source: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)