NAPLAN Results Explained: The Four Proficiency Levels

A NAPLAN report can look like a page of dots and boxes. The idea behind it is simple. Each of the five areas puts your child in one of four levels: Exceeding, Strong, Developing or Needs additional support. This guide explains what each level means, how to read the report, and what to do next.

The four proficiency levels

The levels compare your child’s result with what is expected for their year at the time of the test. Panels of teachers set them for each area and each year level.

Strong is the target, not a near miss. It is the level the standard expects. Exceeding means your child is ahead of it.

How to read the report

The report has one scale for each of the five areas: reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. On each scale you will see three marks.

• A black dot: your child’s result.
• A black triangle: the national average for their year.
• A light shaded box: where the middle 60% of students in their year landed.

Some states also show the school’s average. A later page of the report describes what students at each level can usually do. That page is the most useful part for planning, because it names skills rather than a position.

Common questions when the report arrives

Can I compare it with an older report?

Only with reports from 2023 on. That year NAPLAN moved to a new scale and to Term 1, so a report from 2022 or earlier, which used ten bands, cannot be compared directly. Reports from 2023 on can be compared by level and by where the dot sits against the triangle and the box.

My child was Strong in Year 3 and Strong again in Year 5. Is that a stall?

No. Each level asks for more at each NAPLAN year, so staying at the same level two years apart still means your child has moved forward.

Does a writing result tell the whole story?

Not always. A report shows one day’s work. Writing in particular can be thrown by things on the day, such as a slow connection on the online test. Year 3 children write on paper.

Who else sees it?

Only your child’s school and the body that runs the test in your state. The My School website shows school averages, never one child’s result.

What to do next

1. Start with the skills, not the level. Read the page that describes each level, and note one or two skills your child is close to.
2. Talk to the teacher. NAPLAN happens once every two years. The teacher sees the work every week and is the best guide to what is going on.
3. Pick one area to work on. If writing is the low point, short regular practice helps more than one long session. If numeracy is, timed questions build both skill and pace.
4. Keep it low-stakes at home. NAPLAN is not a pass or fail test, and a child who feels judged by a dot on a page learns less from it.

If you are also thinking about a scholarship or selective test

Some schools ask for NAPLAN reports when a child applies, but NAPLAN is not designed as an entry test. Scholarship and selective schools usually set their own, harder paper. A child at Exceeding on NAPLAN may still find those papers a stretch, because they are written to separate the top few per cent rather than to check the standard. See how NAPLAN numeracy differs from scholarship maths and which test your school uses.

Practise for the next NAPLAN

Our NAPLAN-style practice tests for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 follow the published format and are timed: numeracy, reading, language conventions, and a writing task that comes back marked.

To be clear about what these are: papers we wrote to the published format, not ACARA’s. They do not predict a NAPLAN level, and nothing here is endorsed by ACARA. A free account includes 3 practice tests. A plan opens unlimited tests and unlocks the answers and worked solutions.

Pick your child’s year: Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 or Year 9. For writing on its own, see NAPLAN writing prompts and how they are marked.