The 2017 NAPLAN results were followed by political and media attention focusing on a decline in achievement in writing. This article analyses NAPLAN data to identify the locus of the decline. Contrary to media reports in which it was suggested Year 3 was problematic, the article systematically compares NAPLAN results between 2011 and 2017 to…

This presentation is devoted to four main topics: (1) the comparative performance of U.S. adults and high school students on international literacy assessments; (2) the literacy/numeracy proficiencies of the nation's adults in different educational groups and among those who recently participated in federally-funded adult education programs; (3)…

Surveys of literacy attainment have been going on in the United Kingdom since 1948. The main finding is that literacy standards have changed very little in that time. Among 8-year-olds (children in Year 3) in England and Wales, however, standards fell slightly in the late 1980s, and then recovered in the early 1990s. The few international…