The latest NAPLAN results for all Tasmanian schools show that students have improved in literacy and numeracy, the Minister for Education and Skills, Nick McKim, said today.

Around 24,000 Tasmanian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 attending Government, Catholic and Independent schools were tested under the NAPLAN in May this year.

"In total, Tasmania improved its percentages of students at or above national minimum standard from 2011 in 15 of the 20 assessments and narrowed the gap to Australia in 17 of the 20 measures," Mr McKim said.

"Tasmania's best results were in Reading where Tasmania is ranked fourth after ACT, Victoria and NSW in Years 3, 5 and 7 and ahead of Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia."

Mr McKim said that Tasmania performed better than the Australian figures for the percentages of students at or above national minimum standard for both Year 3 Persuasive Writing and Year 3 Numeracy.

"Significant improvements were achieved in Year 3 Persuasive Writing, Year 5 Spelling and Year 7 Grammar and Punctuation.

"Tasmania closed its 2011 mean score gaps to Australia in 13 of the 20 assessments, with the main improvements being in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 Persuasive Writing and Year 7 Reading.

"Importantly, there were no significant declines in any of the 20 NAPLAN measures.

"Relative to other jurisdictions, Tasmania's mean scores improved on five of the 20 rankings and remained steady on the others. Tasmania moved from fifth to fourth on Year 7 Reading, sixth to fourth on Year 3 Persuasive Writing, seventh to fourth on Year 5 Persuasive Writing, seventh to sixth on Year 9 Persuasive Writing and from fifth to fourth on Year 5 Numeracy.

"On the percentage of students at or above national minimum standard Tasmania improved on five of 20 rankings, moving from seventh to fourth on Year 7 Reading, fifth to fourth on Year 5 Persuasive Writing, seventh to sixth on Year 9 Persuasive Writing, seventh to fourth on Year 5 Spelling and from seventh to sixth on Year 7 Numeracy. Tasmania slipped on two rankings, dropping from fifth to sixth on Year 3 Spelling and from fourth to fifth on Year 5 Grammar and Punctuation. On the remaining 13 rankings, Tasmania remained steady.

"While I am encouraged by this year's NAPLAN results and our progress, there is clearly more work to be done to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for our students.

"I remain cautiously optimistic that our programs and initiatives, and the work in classrooms of our principals and teachers, are starting to show results.

"One of the most successful programs run in government schools where we are hoping to reap long-term rewards is our Launching into Learning initiative (LiL) which aims to give Tasmanian children the best possible start in life.

"The latest results from a longitudinal study measuring the effects of LiL showed that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds made significant gains in educational performance from regular participation in the program.

"On average, LiL students attended five more school days in Prep than the non-LiL group."

Mr McKim also said the Tasmania's NAPLAN results continue to show that socio‑economic status (SES) has a strong influence on literacy and numeracy results with Tasmania the most socio-economically disadvantaged of all the States as measured by indicators such as disposable household income and unemployment rates.

"Through the LiL program we aim to improve the educational outcomes from children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

"As I have stated previously, if you want a quality education system, you've got to have high-quality teachers and high-quality school leaders.

"Our teachers and school leaders, in particular, deserve much credit for these results," he said. 

"At the heart of my vision for education in Tasmania is the need to invest more into inspiring and supporting our teachers and those who lead them. 

"The Government has also invested in Principal Network Leaders who are now providing high level educational leadership and working closely with Tasmanian Government school principals on improvement plans to enhance the performance of our schools."

Mr McKim said the Literacy and Numeracy Framework (2012-2015) clearly outlines systemic approaches to improving literacy and numeracy outcomes.

'During 2012, teachers were further supported with access to the NAPLAN Toolkit, an improved online resource that includes NAPLAN test results for each class, links to related teaching strategies and access to previous test questions.

"The Professional Learning Institute (PLI) and Curriculum Services are working together to develop, deliver and evaluate high quality professional learning on school leadership in literacy and numeracy.

"I would like to congratulate the efforts of Tasmanian principals and teachers and those who support them for their efforts over the last 12 months and I look forward to working together to really make a difference to the lives and educational outcomes of Tasmanian children," Mr McKim said.

The NAPLAN 2012 Summary Report is available at www.nap.edu.au