Analysis of Year 3 NAPLAN Results 2026

Year 3 is the first time Australian students sit NAPLAN, which makes it an important early check on how children are developing their literacy and numeracy skills. This analysis covers the 2026 Year 3 NAPLAN results released by ACARA. It compares every state and territory across all five domains, tracks results since 2023, and looks back as far as 2008 to show the long-term picture, before explaining what it all means for families.

Key Takeaways

• Year 3 numeracy fell to its lowest level since 2023. The national average dropped to 402.6, a statistically significant decline from both 2025 and 2023 (ACARA, 2026).
• Only 62.1% of Year 3 students reached Strong or Exceeding in numeracy, down from 64.0% in 2025 and 64.7% in 2023.
• Writing remains the strongest domain (73.9% at Strong or above), while grammar and punctuation remains the weakest (53.9%).
• Victoria, the ACT and NSW lead every domain. Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia sit below the national average.
• Tasmania's 2026 results were not reported because participation in government schools was too low.
• Girls lead boys in every literacy domain, while boys lead in numeracy, with almost twice the share of girls at the Exceeding level (13.8% vs 7.9%).
• The long-term picture: between 2008 and 2022, Year 3 reading improved by 37 points nationally, but numeracy improved by just 3 points and has been drifting down since 2017.
• Year 3 is the only year level where numeracy has fallen since 2023. Years 5, 7 and 9 have all improved.

What Is NAPLAN?

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a national assessment held each year in March for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests foundational skills in reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN isn't a test of content knowledge. It measures how well students apply literacy and numeracy skills developed over time through the school curriculum. Governments, schools and teachers use the results to track progress nationally and identify where support is needed.

Why Is NAPLAN Done in Year 3?

Year 3 is the first time students sit NAPLAN. By this stage, they've had three full years of formal schooling and are expected to have developed fundamental literacy and numeracy skills. Year 3 results provide:

• Early identification of students who may need extra support.
• A baseline for tracking progress into Year 5 and beyond.
• Insight for schools and policymakers into how students are performing in the early years of learning.

For parents, Year 3 NAPLAN is the first national indication of how their child is progressing compared with students across the country.

What Are the Proficiency Levels?

Since 2023, NAPLAN results have been reported using four proficiency levels:

• Exceeding: The student's result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
• Strong: The student's result meets challenging but reasonable expectations.
• Developing: The student is working towards expectations.
• Needs additional support: The student is not achieving the expected learning outcomes and is likely to need additional support.

Students at Strong or Exceeding are considered to be meeting expectations. There's no official target, but many schools aim to have at least two-thirds (66%) of their students at Strong or above.

What Domains Are Assessed?

• Reading: Understanding, interpreting and analysing a range of written texts.
• Writing: Expressing ideas in a narrative or persuasive piece, including structure, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation.
• Spelling: Applying spelling patterns and rules correctly.
• Grammar and punctuation: Using sentence structure, verb agreement, capitalisation and punctuation correctly.
• Numeracy: Solving problems across number, algebra, measurement, geometry and statistics.

Important Notes About the 2026 Results

• Tasmania wasn't reported. Industrial action led to low participation in Tasmanian government schools (around 57% of Year 3 students), well below ACARA's reporting standard. Education ministers agreed not to publish Tasmanian state-level results for 2026, so Tasmania appears in the trend charts only up to 2025.
• Not every change is meaningful. ACARA tests whether each change is statistically significant. Smaller jurisdictions like the ACT and the Northern Territory can swing several points from year to year without it being a real change, so we highlight which movements ACARA classifies as significant.
• Year 3 writing wasn't affected by the technical issue on the first day of testing, which only affected the writing test for Years 5, 7 and 9.

A Longer View: Year 3 NAPLAN Since 2008

NAPLAN has been running since 2008, but in 2023 the test moved from May to March and results began being reported on a new scale with the four proficiency levels. Because of this, scores from 2008 to 2022 can't be compared directly with scores from 2023 onwards. We show the two periods separately, but together they reveal how Year 3 skills have changed over almost two decades.

On the previous scale, Year 3 results improved substantially in most literacy areas between 2008 and 2022:

Reading shows one of the clearest long-term improvements in NAPLAN's history. Numeracy is the outlier. After barely moving for a decade, Year 3 numeracy peaked in 2017 (409.4) and then trended down to 399.8 by 2022. The decline has continued on the new scale, from 407.3 in 2023 to 402.6 in 2026. In other words, the 2026 numeracy result isn't a one-off: it continues a downward trend that has been building for almost a decade.

National Overview

At the national level, Year 3 results in 2026 were broadly stable in literacy, but numeracy declined.

Numeracy is the only domain where the national change from 2025 is statistically significant, and it's also significantly lower than in 2023. ACARA described the drop in Year 3 numeracy as "clearly concerning", and education ministers are responding with measures including a national Year 1 numeracy check and a review of the Foundation to Year 2 Mathematics curriculum.

What Were the Results in 2026?

Reading

The national Year 3 reading score was essentially unchanged at 402.5 (402.2 in 2025). The ACT recorded the highest score at 420.0, up from 412.2, although ACARA doesn't classify the increase as statistically significant. Victoria (418.1) and NSW (409.7) were close behind and above the national average.

Queensland (386.0) and South Australia (391.1) were the lowest-scoring states and have both declined significantly since 2023. The Northern Territory rose slightly to 325.5 but remains well below every other jurisdiction.

Nationally, 65.6% of Year 3 students were at Strong or Exceeding in reading, just under the two-thirds mark. The ACT (72.6%), Victoria (71.5%) and NSW (68.6%) were above it, with the ACT having the highest share of students at Exceeding (25.4%). In the Northern Territory, 36.6% of students need additional support, more than three times the national rate of 11.3%.

The long-term view. Between 2008 and 2022, Year 3 reading rose by 37 points nationally on the previous scale. The biggest improvements came from the jurisdictions that started furthest behind: the Northern Territory (+64.6), Queensland (+51.0) and Western Australia (+41.7). Queensland's rise is widely linked to the introduction of a full-time Prep year in 2007, with the first Prep cohort reaching Year 3 in 2010. Tasmania (+24.8) and South Australia (+26.2) improved the least.

Writing

Writing remains the highest-scoring Year 3 domain nationally at 412.0, though it has drifted down from 416.3 in 2023. Victoria (424.8) and NSW (421.2) continue to lead. Western Australia recorded the largest fall among the states, from 405.9 to 399.1, and is now significantly below its 2023 result (408.8). The Northern Territory improved to 334.2.

Almost three in four Year 3 students (73.9%) were at Strong or above in writing, the highest of any domain. Victoria led with 79.8%. Writing has a much smaller share of students at Exceeding than the other domains (8.0% nationally), with most students clustered at Strong. Every state except the Northern Territory had at least 66% of students at Strong or above.

The long-term view. Writing has been the most volatile domain, with noticeable national dips in 2014 and 2018, and the smallest long-term improvement among the literacy domains (+6.2 points between 2011 and 2022). Western Australia improved the most (+15.4), while Queensland (+2.4) and NSW (+3.5) barely moved.

Spelling

NSW and Victoria shared the top spelling score at 417.2. Victoria's result is significantly higher than in 2023 (409.9), making it one of the few clear improvements in the Year 3 results. Queensland fell significantly from 389.5 to 385.2. The Northern Territory recovered to 317.2 after a low of 308.8 in 2025.

Nationally, 61.6% of Year 3 students were at Strong or above in spelling. NSW had the highest share at Exceeding (21.1%). Queensland (53.7%), Western Australia (57.3%) and South Australia (58.6%) had larger shares of students at Developing or below, and 38.3% of Northern Territory students need additional support.

The long-term view. Year 3 spelling rose by 18 points nationally between 2008 and 2022. Queensland (+34.8) and Western Australia (+32.5) closed much of their gap with the leading states, while Tasmania was the only jurisdiction to finish lower than it started (−2.1).

Grammar and Punctuation

Victoria recorded the highest grammar and punctuation score (423.1), followed by the ACT (421.0) and NSW (419.6). The ACT's result is significantly higher than in 2023, while Queensland (390.6) and South Australia (393.2) are both significantly lower than in 2023. The Northern Territory rose from 306.5 to 319.4, but the change isn't statistically significant.

Grammar and punctuation is the weakest Year 3 domain. Only 53.9% of students nationally were at Strong or above, and no state or territory reached 60%. Around one in six students (16.3%) need additional support, rising to more than one in five in Queensland (21.0%) and 43.9% in the Northern Territory.

The long-term view. Grammar and punctuation improved by 30 points nationally between 2008 and 2022, with the biggest gains in the Northern Territory (+69.2), Queensland (+48.7) and Western Australia (+41.1). However, results peaked in 2019 (440.0) nationally and in most jurisdictions, then fell back by 2022, a decline that has continued on the new scale in Queensland and South Australia.

Numeracy

Numeracy is the biggest story of the 2026 Year 3 results. The national average fell to 402.6, the lowest since the new scale was introduced in 2023, and the decline is statistically significant compared with both 2025 and 2023. Queensland (−5.5 points) and South Australia (−4.9 points) recorded significant falls from 2025, while NSW (−7.2) and Western Australia (−6.0) are significantly lower than in 2023. Victoria (416.9) and the ACT (413.4) recorded the highest scores.

Only 62.1% of Year 3 students were at Strong or above in numeracy, down from 64.0% in 2025, and 11.0% need additional support, up from 9.4%. Victoria (68.6%) and the ACT (68.2%) were the only jurisdictions above 66%. Just 6.8% of Queensland students and 7.0% of South Australian students were at Exceeding, compared with 14.3% in Victoria.

The long-term view. Numeracy is the only domain where Year 3 results barely improved between 2008 and 2022 (+2.9 points nationally). Several jurisdictions actually finished lower than they started: Tasmania (−12.4), Victoria (−7.4), the ACT (−4.9) and NSW (−2.0). Queensland (+19.4) and Western Australia (+12.8) were the main exceptions. Nationally, Year 3 numeracy peaked in 2017 and has trended down since.

Year 3 is going backwards while older students improve. National numeracy results for Years 5, 7 and 9 are all higher in 2026 than in 2023, with Years 5 and 7 improving every year. Year 3 is the only year level where numeracy is lower than in 2023, which points to the early years of schooling as the place where foundations need the most attention.

Beyond the Averages: Who's Doing Well and Who Needs Support?

Girls Lead in Literacy, Boys Lead in Numeracy

Year 3 girls outperformed boys in every literacy domain, most clearly in writing, where 79.5% of girls were at Strong or above compared with 68.6% of boys. In numeracy the pattern reverses: 64.7% of boys were at Strong or above compared with 59.4% of girls, and boys were almost twice as likely to be at Exceeding (13.8% vs 7.9%).

Location Makes a Big Difference

Results fall steadily the further a school is from a major city. In major cities, 69.0% of Year 3 students were at Strong or above in reading, compared with 53.6% in outer regional areas and just 22.3% in very remote schools. Numeracy follows the same pattern, from 65.5% in major cities to 19.7% in very remote schools.

Family Background and Language

• Parental education: 78.6% of Year 3 students whose parents have a bachelor's degree were at Strong or above in reading, compared with 49.3% where parents finished Year 12 and 32.6% where parents finished Year 11.
• Language background: Students with a language background other than English outperformed other students in every domain, most notably in spelling (70.1% vs 57.5% at Strong or above).
• Indigenous students: 35.8% of Indigenous Year 3 students were at Strong or above in reading, compared with 68.1% of non-Indigenous students, a gap that persists across all domains.

How Does Year 3 Compare With Older Year Levels?

Percentage of students at Strong or Exceeding in 2026, Australia.

Two patterns stand out. Writing is Year 3's strongest domain, yet the share of students meeting expectations falls at every year level after that, to just 59.9% in Year 9. Early writing skills don't automatically carry through, and expectations rise sharply as students move into persuasive and analytical writing. Numeracy and grammar and punctuation are the opposite. Year 3 has the lowest share of students meeting expectations of any year level, so these are the areas where early support can make the biggest difference.

Is the Gender Gap Changing?

Between 2025 and 2026, the share of Year 3 students at Strong or above in writing fell for both girls (82.2% to 79.5%) and boys (70.9% to 68.6%), while the gap stayed at around 11 percentage points. In numeracy, both girls (61.3% to 59.4%) and boys (66.6% to 64.7%) declined by a similar amount, so the 2026 drop in Year 3 numeracy affected boys and girls alike.

From Year 3 to Year 5: How Much Do Students Grow?

NAPLAN uses a single scale across all year levels, so we can see how much a cohort grows over two years. Students who sat Year 3 NAPLAN in 2024 sat Year 5 NAPLAN in 2026. Nationally, their average score rose by:

This is a reminder that Year 3 results are a snapshot, not a ceiling. With the right support, students can make substantial progress between Year 3 and Year 5. Writing shows the smallest growth, which suggests it's a skill that benefits from consistent practice over time.

Final Thoughts

The 2026 Year 3 results are mostly stable in literacy, but the decline in numeracy stands out. With fewer students reaching Strong or Exceeding and more needing additional support, early numeracy is clearly an area to watch. Grammar and punctuation also continues to lag, with only around half of Year 3 students meeting expectations.

There are also persistent gaps between states, between metropolitan and remote students, and between students from different backgrounds. Victoria, the ACT and NSW consistently lead, while Queensland and South Australia have seen several significant declines since 2023.

Looking back to 2008 puts these results in context. Year 3 literacy improved strongly through the 2010s, especially in states that started further behind, such as Queensland and Western Australia. Numeracy never followed the same path, and it has now been trending down for most of the past decade. Combined with the fact that Year 3 is the only year level where numeracy has fallen since 2023, the data suggests early numeracy is the most important area for families and schools to focus on.

What Can Parents Do?

• Read the report as a snapshot. NAPLAN is one test on one day. Use it alongside your child's school reports and conversations with their teacher.
• Focus on early numeracy. Everyday maths, like counting money, telling time, measuring while cooking and playing number games, builds the foundations that Year 3 numeracy tests.
• Read together every day. Talking about stories, asking questions and reading a variety of texts builds comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills.
• Practise writing in short, regular bursts. Writing shows the slowest growth between Year 3 and Year 5, so regular practice matters.
• Get support early if needed. If your child is at Developing or Needs additional support, early intervention makes the biggest difference. Our NAPLAN tutors in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth work one-on-one with students to build the literacy and numeracy skills NAPLAN assesses. Read more about why primary students are falling behind in maths and English, and how tutoring for primary students differs from high school.

Looking for last year's results or other year levels? See our 2025 analyses for Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

When were the 2026 NAPLAN results released?

ACARA released the 2026 NAPLAN National Results on 5 August 2026. Students sat the tests in March 2026.

What percentage of Year 3 students met expectations in 2026?

It depends on the domain. Nationally, 73.9% of Year 3 students were at Strong or above in writing, 65.6% in reading, 62.1% in numeracy, 61.6% in spelling and 53.9% in grammar and punctuation.

Which state had the best Year 3 NAPLAN results in 2026?

Victoria, the ACT and NSW were the top three jurisdictions in every domain. Victoria recorded the highest score in writing, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy, the ACT in reading, and NSW and Victoria shared the top spelling score.

Why weren't Tasmania's 2026 NAPLAN results reported?

Participation in Tasmanian government schools was too low because of industrial action, falling well below ACARA's standard for accurate reporting. Education ministers agreed not to report Tasmanian state-level results for 2026.

Is NAPLAN a pass or fail test?

No. NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that shows a student's strengths and areas for development. It isn't used for school entry or grading.

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Source: ACARA, 2026 NAPLAN National Results and national results dataset. All figures are for Year 3 students.