ONE in 10 students need more support in their literacy and numeracy to meet higher NAPLAN expectations, newly released data has revealed.
National and state results were released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) on Wednesday morning.
The latest figures show about 65 per cent of students across the country were meeting the higher literacy and numeracy expectations, achieving in the "strong" and "exceeding" levels.
A new-look NAPLAN saw participation levels bounce back in 2023, up from 91.4 per cent last year to 93.3 per cent.
ACARA chief executive David de Carvalho said it was a good sign and marked a reversal of a trend seen in recent years which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Changes in 2023 saw the 10 NAPLAN bands scrapped for four "proficiency levels" and tests were held for Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students.
NAPLAN was undertaken in March for the first time, compared to May, and a record 4.4 million tests were submitted online across 9390 campuses nationally.
"This year's NAPLAN results are the first to reflect the new reporting changes," Mr de Carvalho said.
They show strong performance among Australian students in literacy and numeracy skills, but also provide clear information on areas requiring improvement."
He said the results continued to highlight the "educational disparities" for students in non-urban areas, as well as Indigenous Australians and people from low socio-economic backgrounds.
While Newcastle and Maitland are recognised as major cities, some Hunter towns are assessed as being inner regional or outer regional.
The average NAPLAN scores for all year groups show that less than 30 per cent of students in very remote schools rated as "strong" or "exceeding" in any testing area, while at least double that rated in those top two categories in major city schools.
The ACARA results show girls generally outperformed boys in writing, while boys did better than girls in numeracy.
Nationally, just less than 10 per cent of students on average landed in the "needs additional support" category.
Students in NSW have already received their individual results, a spokesperson from ACARA confirmed.
They said a school by school breakdown of NAPLAN results would be available later this year.
