Parents and carers of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who took this year’s NAPLAN assessment in March will receive an individual student report (ISR) of their child’s results from their school from the start of Term 3. The specific timing will be determined by the relevant state or territory test administration authority.
These reports provide useful information on a student’s results in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.
ACARA Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Gniel, highlighted the continuing value of the NAPLAN assessments to schools, parents and carers, and the wider community.
“The purpose of NAPLAN is clear. It’s the only national assessment we have that lets us see whether young Australians are developing critical literacy and numeracy skills, using a national, objective scale.
“NAPLAN provides valuable information on students’ progress in key literacy and numeracy skills. It also helps government and education authorities know how education approaches are working, identify where changes and support might be needed, and guide system-wide policy decisions,” he said.
NAPLAN individual student results are reported against proficiency standards. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing.
There are 4 levels of proficiency, which provide parents and carers with clear information on their child’s achievement:
The front page of the ISR provides general information about the tests and an explanation of how to read the report. The student’s results in each of the assessment areas are set out in the middle pages of the report. The final page of the ISR provides a brief summary of the skills typically demonstrated by students at each of the proficiency levels.
Along with other school assessment reports, parents and carers can use the NAPLAN ISR to discuss their child’s progress with their teacher.
In 2026, ISRs for students in Years 5, 7 and 9 will include this caveat in relation to the writing results following a technical disruption on day 1:
NAPLAN results should always be interpreted with care. This is important for writing results in 2026 because some students experienced disruptions during the online writing test due to connectivity issues. Your child’s teacher will have the best insight into your child’s educational progress.
Read our media release (PDF 175 KB).
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