Nationwide NAPLAN Outage Disrupts Online Testing in Schools

A major technical failure has disrupted NAPLAN testing across Australia, forcing schools to pause the national assessment as students struggled to access the online testing platform.

The outage occurred on the morning of March 11, when students were scheduled to sit the writing component of the annual assessment.

Around 1.4 million students from more than 9,400 schools and campuses were expected to participate in this year’s testing.

NAPLAN is Australia’s national assessment that tracks the progress of students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in literacy and numeracy.

The disruption appears to have affected schools across multiple states, with students unable to log in to the online testing system.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), responsible for developing and reporting on NAPLAN, has investigated the issue and confirmed that the test has now returned to normal.

“NAPLAN testing has now resumed following a widespread issue earlier this morning, which affected students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their assessments,” it said in a statement.

“We apologise for the disruption to students and schools, and thank them for their patience. The issue has now been resolved, and schools have been informed they can resume testing.

“We continue to monitor the platform to ensure students are able to complete their assessments without further issues.”

The failure appears to have affected online testing only. Year 3 students, who complete their assessments using paper-based tests, were not impacted.

Schools Told to Pause Testing

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) confirmed that many schools in the state had experienced difficulties accessing the online system.

VCAA CEO Andrew Smith said some schools had been unable to load the testing content.

“ACARA have asked that schools pause testing while the issue is investigated, and they will be given advice as through the course of the day as to when they can resume testing,” he told ABC Melbourne.

“We don’t have actual numbers yet, but it would seem that there’s enough schools for us to be concerned.”

Smith said schools that had not experienced technical problems could continue running the tests.

Government Pushes NAPLAN Reforms 

The outage comes as the federal government has been promoting changes designed to modernise the national assessment system.

In a statement issued earlier in the day before the disruption, Education Minister Jason Clare highlighted recent reforms to NAPLAN, including moving the testing period earlier in the school year and accelerating the release of results.

“We’ve made the most sweeping reforms to NAPLAN since it started in 2008. The turnaround time in NAPLAN results is faster than ever. What used to take months is now back in teachers’ hands within weeks,” he said.

“This helps us identify kids earlier who may be struggling and help give them the support they need.”

“NAPLAN results also provide valuable data to inform national reform. The 2025 NAPLAN results showed encouraging signs, but there is more work to do.”

Authorities have not yet indicated how many students were directly affected by the latest NAPLAN outage, but investigations into the technical failure are continuing.