The release of the final 2016 NAPLAN results round out a trio of report cards on Australian students and the grade is not great.
But students from non-English-speaking backgrounds have performed strongly in reading and maths.
Results show in Year 3 reading, students from migrant backgrounds had stronger mean scores across all of Australia, and scored more highly in all states except Victoria and the territories.
Migrant children also outscored non-migrant children in Year 3 writing, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy.
The NAPLAN results show there was a continuing strong performance among children from non-English-speaking backgrounds in Years 5, 7 and 9.
There has also been a definite improvement among Indigenous primary school students, according to NAPLAN results, but there's still a long way to go.
Association of Heads of Independent Schools national chairwoman, Karen Spiller, said the 2016 NAPLAN Report delivered encouraging news for schools working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
She said the 2016 NAPLAN results showed overall gains for Indigenous students in Year 3 and Year 5 in reading and numeracy and welcome improvements in early learning.
Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC News 24 the improved results for Indigenous and migrant students were "good news".
"Similarly we are seeing in some migrant groups or students that don't have a background in English improvement in their results, in some cases outstripping other students.
"There are positive indicators there that back the fact that we want to see funding distributed according to need."
NAPLAN results for 2016
- Reading for Years 3 and 5 better than 2008 but no improvement from 2015
- Spelling, grammar and punctuation for Year 3 better than 2008 but no improvement from 2015
- Numeracy for year 5 better than 2008 but no improvement from 2015
- Writing for Year 9 worse than comparable tests in 2011
- Only Years 3 and 5 have significantly higher proportion of students meeting national minimum standards than in 2008
- WA and Queensland made higher gains than other jurisdictions
- ACT, NSW and Victoria still have highest average achievement in Years 3, 5 and 7.
