About this paper
The insights in this paper are drawn from the latest National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy in Australia (LLANIA) data to discuss student participation and engagement with the tests – factors that impact the quality and usefulness of the results. This paper is a follow-up to the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO)’s first Analytical Insights paper, NAPLAN Participation: Who is Missing the Tests and Why it Matters. It provides the latest trends and highlights important considerations for the interpretation of students’ results and future implementation of NAPLAN.
Key points:
- NAPLAN participation has largely recovered since the pandemic, with participation rates in 2024 either higher (Year 5) or not significantly different (Years 3 and 7) to participation in 2019. There was a sharp increase in the proportion of students who were absent from NAPLAN tests in 2022 – most likely due to increased sickness and natural disasters in that year – but the spike in absence mostly disappeared in 2023.
- AERO’s previous analysis (2023) showed students with lower performance were more likely to miss the tests. This analysis shows some subgroups of students (e.g., students in very remote areas and First Nations students) continue to participate at a considerably lower rate than the national averages. Taken together, these findings have implications for the accuracy and utility of NAPLAN data and highlight the importance of monitoring participation for subgroups of students who participate at lower levels.
- Reasons for non-assessment in NAPLAN vary across locations. For example, in 2024, around 85% of non-assessments (excluding non-attempts) among Year 9 students in the Northern Territory were due to student absence on the test day, while 51% of Year 9 non-assessments in Queensland were due to withdrawal by parents.
- Test engagement is another factor that can influence the validity and utility of NAPLAN results. For example, about one-fifth of students who achieved zero scores in Year 9 reading (2016 to 2021) performed well 2 years earlier in Year 7. This indicates likely test disengagement among some students in Year 9.
- Although participation in NAPLAN is important, the higher priority continues to be supporting the attendance and engagement of students at school. Improved school attendance across school days more generally may increase attendance on NAPLAN testing days, facilitating more accurate information about students’ learning.
Keywords: data analysis, educational data, learning outcomes, learning progression, longitudinal data, NAPLAN analysis, student performance, student progress