GIRLS HAVE WRITE STUFF

GIRLS have outperformed boys at writing, grammar and punctuation across all year levels in the 2017 NAPLAN.

The National Report, released today, reveals females had better results than their male counterparts for writing, grammar and punctuation in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9.

In Year 7 they were also more advanced at reading and in Year 9 they scored better in reading and spelling.

The sexes were more on par for numeracy results, both in mean scale scores and the percentage of people at or above the national minimum standard, across the board.

Students with a language background other than English performed significantly better in spelling than their non-LBOTE peers across all year levels.

For most year levels in Victoria, there was little difference between mean scale scores of students attending inner regional and outer regional locations.

Across the country, students whose parents hold a bachelor degree had the greatest percentage of results achieved at, or above, the national standard.

Similarly, students whose parents are senior management or qualified professionals had the highest mean scores and those whose parents hadn’t had paid work in the previous 12 months had the lowest.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) CEO Robert Randall said NAPLAN withdrawals and absentee rates remained stable, with no major changes in the 2017 participation rates compared with 2016.