New South Wales students have continued to perform above national averages in the 2026 NAPLAN assessments, with signs of improvement in several spelling, grammar and numeracy measures.
The statewide results were released as part of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s 2026 national reporting on 5 August.
Across most tested year levels and subjects, more than two-thirds of NSW results were classified as either Strong or Exceeding.
However, overall performance was relatively stable rather than showing uniform improvement, and the results identify continuing concerns in writing, reading and several secondary-school literacy measures.
NSW remains above national averages
NAPLAN assesses students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across five areas:
- Reading
- Writing
- Spelling
- Grammar and punctuation
- Numeracy
Since 2023, student results have been reported across four proficiency levels: Exceeding, Strong, Developing and Needs additional support.
Strong means a student has met challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing, while Exceeding indicates performance above those expectations.
NSW exceeded national averages across the tested year levels and domains, continuing its position among Australia’s stronger-performing jurisdictions.
National reporting placed Victoria first across average results, followed by the Australian Capital Territory and NSW.
This does not mean every NSW student is meeting expected standards. A substantial group remains in the Developing or Needs additional support categories and may require targeted assistance.
Cohort comparisons show gains in several areas
The NSW Government highlighted improvements by comparing the 2026 performance of particular student cohorts with their results two years earlier.
Among students who moved from Year 3 in 2024 to Year 5 in 2026, the proportion achieving Strong or Exceeding increased by:
- 8.9 percentage points in grammar and punctuation
- 8.6 percentage points in spelling
- 6.8 percentage points in numeracy
Among the cohort that moved from Year 5 in 2024 to Year 7 in 2026, the proportion achieving Strong or Exceeding in spelling increased by 4.9 percentage points.
These comparisons follow groups at a broad cohort level rather than tracking the exact test result of every individual student.
They show stronger performance as students progressed through school, but do not by themselves establish which policies, classroom practices or demographic changes produced the improvement.
Results do not prove the effect of explicit teaching
The NSW Government has connected the stronger results with its emphasis on explicit teaching, phonics, early screening and small-group tuition.
Explicit teaching typically involves teachers clearly explaining new knowledge and skills, modelling processes, checking student understanding and providing guided practice before students work independently.
The government has also introduced or expanded:
- The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
- The Year 1 Number Screening Check
- Small-group literacy and numeracy tuition
- New English and mathematics curriculum resources
- Professional learning for teachers
These initiatives may have contributed to improved student performance, but NAPLAN data alone cannot demonstrate a direct causal relationship.
Other influences can include student participation, school-level programs, family circumstances, curriculum changes, teacher experience and differences in the students tested each year.
The results therefore support continued examination of the reforms rather than proving that one teaching approach caused the recorded gains.
Writing remains a concern
The results identify writing as an area requiring further attention, particularly in Years 5, 7 and 9.
Grammar and punctuation also remain areas of concern in Years 7 and 9.
The NSW Government plans to introduce mandatory professional learning in writing instruction for teachers in public schools from 2027.
The training will focus on strengthening writing across the curriculum rather than treating it as a skill taught only during English lessons.
Nationally, average reading scores declined in Years 5, 7 and 9 compared with 2025, while a greater proportion of students required additional support in reading and writing.
Across the country, approximately one-third of students did not reach the Strong or Exceeding proficiency levels in the principal literacy and numeracy measures.
Technical disruption affects writing interpretation
The 2026 writing results carry an additional statistical caution.
A technical issue with the online assessment platform disrupted the writing test taken by many students in Years 5, 7 and 9 on 11 March.
ACARA analysed the incident and determined that the national writing results were only minimally affected and could still be reported.
However, it acknowledged that the disruption may have affected individual students, schools and demographic groups differently.
ACARA has therefore advised users to apply caution when interpreting the 2026 writing results.
This caveat is particularly important when examining small annual changes or attempting to attribute writing results to a particular education policy.
Year 1 number check introduced statewide
NSW introduced a statewide Year 1 Number Screening Check in 2026, covering approximately 60,000 public-school students.
The assessment is intended to identify gaps in foundational number knowledge before students reach the later primary years.
Teachers can use the information to determine which students need additional instruction and which mathematical concepts require further attention.
The number check complements the existing Year 1 Phonics Screening Check, which examines whether students can apply letter–sound knowledge when reading words.
Both checks are diagnostic tools rather than pass-or-fail examinations.
Their value depends on whether schools have the staff, instructional resources and intervention programs required to respond to the needs they identify.
Small-group tuition available across public schools
The Small Group Tuition Program has been extended across NSW public schools to support students who need additional help with literacy or numeracy.
The model generally places students in small groups for targeted instruction based on an identified learning need.
Smaller groups can allow teachers or tutors to provide more frequent feedback and adjust lessons to the students’ current level of understanding.
The program may support students whose NAPLAN results place them in the Developing or Needs additional support categories.
However, individual NAPLAN results should be considered alongside classroom assessments, teacher observations and a student’s broader learning progress.
Education experts caution that NAPLAN represents one test at one point in time and is not a complete measure of a child’s ability or future achievement.
National numeracy picture is mixed
Nationally, numeracy provided some of the more encouraging results in 2026.
Average performance improved among students in Years 5, 7 and 9, and around 29,000 more students were classified as Exceeding compared with earlier results on the post-2023 scale.
However, Year 3 numeracy moved in the opposite direction, recording its lowest national average since the current NAPLAN scale was introduced in 2023.
This mixed pattern reinforces the need to distinguish between year levels rather than referring to a general nationwide improvement in mathematics.
For NSW, the 6.8-percentage-point cohort increase in Year 5 numeracy is promising, but it does not remove the need for early assessment and targeted support.
Persistent gaps remain
The national results continue to show substantial differences linked to location and socioeconomic background.
Students from highly advantaged educational backgrounds recorded substantially stronger average results than students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Students in major cities also generally outperformed those attending regional, remote and very remote schools.
National reporting found a particularly wide gap between the proportion of major-city students and very remote students reaching the top two proficiency categories in reading and numeracy.
NSW’s above-average statewide performance can therefore conceal significant differences between schools, regions and student groups.
Targeted programs will need to be assessed partly on whether they narrow those gaps, not only whether the statewide average rises.
Results provide direction rather than a final verdict
The 2026 results offer evidence of improvement in selected NSW spelling, grammar and numeracy indicators while confirming continuing challenges in writing and secondary literacy.
They do not establish that the state’s teaching reforms have already transformed student achievement, nor do they suggest that NSW has resolved the proportion of students requiring additional support.
The most defensible conclusion is that NSW remains above the national average and has recorded encouraging cohort-level gains in several foundational skills.
The next test will be whether those improvements continue across future years, extend to reading and writing, and reach students who are currently performing below expected proficiency levels.