Queensland gets gold star for NAPLAN participation amid cyclone chaos

Queensland students have received a gold star from a national education authority for the greatest improvement in NAPLAN participation rates, despite uptake remaining the lowest of any state.

With Cyclone Alfred tearing a path through the 2025 testing period, forcing affected south-east schools to push back testing by up to four days, almost 260,000 students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 ended up sitting the nationwide standardised tests.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority chief executive Stephen Gniel said Queensland’s spike in participation rates was “a testament to the efforts of its education community”.

“When you consider [the cyclone], the fact that Queensland achieved its highest participation rate across all year levels since 2019, at 89.7 per cent, is an impressive achievement,” he said.

Gniel said national participation rates had largely rebounded to pre-COVID levels, with 93.8 per cent of students making at least one test attempt – the highest rate since 2017.

Despite an overall 2.4 percentage point increase in average participation rates from 2024 to 2025, Queensland remained the only state with an overall participation rate below 90 per cent.

The number of year 9 students in Queensland sitting the test was even lower, with about two in every 10 students skipping NAPLAN, however this was an increase on the state’s all-time low in 2022.

The Northern Territory recorded the lowest participation rate of all Australian states and territories, but had the highest proportion of students in regional, remote, or very remote locations.