Education Minister Grace Grace said NAPLAN results released today show students in Queensland have performed well in a school year disrupted by the pandemic and flooding.

“I would like to congratulate the 250,000 students across Queensland who participated in NAPLAN and thank the teachers, school staff, parents and guardians who supported them throughout the process.

“Queensland continues to be one of the top academic performers since the launch of NAPLAN in 2008, and I am delighted to see the continued improvement in writing achievement for Queensland students.

“It is important to remember that NAPLAN is only one of the tools used to monitor student progress and assess their strengths and development.

“This is a spot check and is just one of many assessments students undertake to monitor and track their progress.

“I’m concerned that the lower turnouts for NAPLAN this year have impacted the data. We know that preliminary results from NAPLAN could not be released as planned in August for this reason.

“I am also concerned about all the data washing that is taking place and what this means for the reliability of the results which I hope to raise at the next meeting of education ministers.

“Although NAPLAN is not the ultimate solution, it is troubling to see a national trend of plateauing or declining performance in some areas, which is also seen in Queensland.

“This makes our new equity and excellence strategy, currently in consultation, all the more important.

“Equity and Excellence has a clear focus on improving academic achievement, particularly in English and math, and ensuring that students receive all the support they need to succeed.”