Last week’s NAPLAN results landed with their usual media splash. There were headlines worrying about the significant proportions of students below certain benchmarks and specific questions about maths results for students in Year 3.

One important element missing from the debate so far has been how students from disadvantaged backgrounds are falling further behind their advantaged peers.

This gap was already a problem before the latest data. But the most recent results show how things are getting worse.

Another way of looking at the data

Many research studies and decades of school results tell us there is a “learning gap” between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Australia.

What is less clear is how much this gap is changing over time.

For a May 2026 report, we developed a methodology that allowed us to illustrate gaps between students from different socioeconomic groups.

We converted NAPLAN scores into years and months of learning, relative to average levels of achievement for each year level. We called this “equivalent years of learning”. So, instead of comparing students by achievement bands or results, we can look at their achievement in terms of the amount of years and months that set........

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