NAPLAN Insights: Beyond the Scores

What is NAPLAN?

NAPLAN stands for the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy and is an annual national assessment for school students in Years Three, Five, Seven, and Nine. 

According to NAP, the goal of NAPLAN is to assist governments, education authorities, and schools in seeing whether young Australians are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals. 

NAPLAN can also support school improvement by enabling teachers to monitor their students’ progress against the national standard to identify strengths and areas in which to improve teaching programs. NAPLAN also gives parents insight into how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy.

Schools are increasingly recognised as critical environments for promoting mental wellbeing, identifying early warning signs, and providing support. In this blog, we explore the current trends, challenges, and initiatives being implemented in Australia, shaping mental health support in Australian schools. 

The Controversy Around NAPLAN

In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion around the effectiveness of NAPLAN testing. Despite its original intent, NAPLAN has become a contentious topic among educators, parents and policymakers. Some of the main concerns that arise about NAPLAN include: 

• Misuse of Data: According to the Educator, NAPLAN has become unmoored from its original goals. In recent years, results have been used for comparisons in media and public rankings. This can oversimplify complex school environments and place unnecessary emphasis on test performance. 
• Limited Scope: While giving great indications of students’ literacy and numeracy abilities, NAPLAN is only one piece of the learning, engagement and creativity breadth that students possess. 
• Teaching to the Test: Some educators feel pressured to narrow their curriculum to prepare students for the assessment, potentially limiting broader learning opportunities and adding additional stress for students as the testing approaches. 
• Student Anxiety: In an article published by the University of Southern Queensland, a 2022 study of more than 200 high school students found that 48% felt worried about what the test would be like and how they would perform. Another 2017 study of more than 100 primary school students found that up to 20% of students had a physical reaction to the test, which included feeling sick, crying, headaches, or not sleeping well. How can schools calm fears within students as well as parents in the lead-up to NAPLAN testing? 

Calming Fears

Standardised tests can be a source of stress and pain for students and their parents, both in the lead-up and when results come back, but tests like NAPLAN don’t have to be. 

Encourage Data-Rich Conversations: NAPLAN results are only a relatively small part of the puzzle, and sharing this perspective with parents is important. Where possible, be sure to include soft skills, extracurricular, and well-being data alongside academic results. Incorporating all these data sets will give parents a broader story of their student’s progress. 

Building a Sense of Community: It is comforting for students to know that they are not alone. NAPLAN tests provide a snapshot of student progress nationwide; that’s millions of students across the country sitting the same exam at the same time. Invite your students to see themselves as part of a community in their classrooms, their school, and their country. 

Calming Nerves: The week of NAPLAN testing can cause students a lot of nerves, as can the waiting game for results to be released. Even though the results of NAPLAN testing do not contribute to a student’s final grades, utilising the data to promote data literacy is important, as students will be able to gain valuable insights from their results. 

To learn more tips on calming NAPLAN nerves for parents and students, click the link below to access our infographic.

NAPLAN is just one piece of the puzzle

NAPLAN testing for 2025 was undertaken in schools across the country in March, and results are expected at the beginning of Term 3. In the lead up to results being shared with schools, parents and students, it is important to remember that NAPLAN and other external results are only small pieces of the much larger puzzle.

Standardised tests on their own are not a clear indicator of student progress and should be looked at in conjunction with wellbeing, soft skills, extra curricular and academic results. Doing this will paint the most data-rich picture of your students’ schooling journeys.  

Utilising Learning Analytics

As education becomes increasingly data-rich, learning analytics is emerging as a powerful way for schools to make sense of the information they collect. At its core, learning analytics involves gathering, analysing and interpreting data to better understand student progress, identity trends, and inform teaching and leadership decisions.  

With the data your school receives from standardised testing, such as NAPLAN, combined with the data they already have, including all of the academic reporting, awards, wellbeing, and extra curricular data, how are you actioning insights?

That is where TrackOne Studio comes in! Our Learning Analytics Suite empowers schools to take full advantage of the data they already have from external assessments like NAPLAN to classroom-based tasks. 

To learn more about how TrackOne Studio’s Learning Analytics Suite can integrate, manage, and analyse external sources like NAPLAN, ICAS, and ACER and allow you to compare and analyse them with internal academic results, click the link below.

NAPLAN offers schools valuable insights into literacy and numeracy achievement, but it’s just one part of a much broader educational story. To truly support student growth, schools need to look beyond the scores, contextualising standardised assessments with internal results, wellbeing data, and the rich, everyday learning experiences that happen in the classroom.