What is NAPLAN?

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgment about student progress. Federal, state, and territory education ministers agreed to gradually transition NAPLAN online by 2022. NAPLAN online is a tailored test that adapts to student responses, providing better assessment and more precise results. To see the types of questions and functionalities in the online tests, visit the public demonstration site page. Read the NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers (PDF 133 kb), also available in Simple English (PDF 1 mb). This brochure is also available in the following languages:

Translations reproduced with thanks to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and the Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority.  NAPLAN results  Schools generally receive their students’ NAPLAN reports from mid-August to mid-September, depending on their state or territory test administration authority. The school will notify you when the reports are being sent to your home.   Your child’s school is your first point of contact for any questions about their NAPLAN report, including:

  • if you do not receive a report
  • for replacement reports (please note: ACARA does not have access to individual student reports and cannot organise the reissue of lost student reports)
  • if you want further information about your child’s results. Copies of individual student test questions or responses are not available.

How is NAPLAN performance reported? NAPLAN is designed to illustrate the range of student performance across the country. Individual student performance is shown on a national achievement scale for each test. The performance of individual students can be compared to the average performance of all students in Australia. Read more about individual student reports in the Individual student report – FAQs for parents/carers (PDF 395 kb). Read more about the reporting of NAPLAN results in the ‘Results and reports’ section of this website.

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