Students failing to make the grade 'a worry'

Australian school students are not making the grade when it comes to literacy and numeracy skills - according to the results of this year's NAPLAN tests.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has described the results as a "worry" - after it was revealed most year groups had flat-lined or declined in every area of testing.

"We see, at best, stagnating results," he told the TODAY show.

"There are pockets of improvement..elsewhere we are seeing declines and overall the results are not what you would expect."

One million students from years 3, 5, 7 and 9 were assessed in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy in May.

The results, released this morning, show writing is a key problem area, particularly for boys.

Nearly 25 percent of Year 9 boys across the country did not meet the national minimum standard for writing skills.

More than 17 percent of Year 7 boys were in the same situation - compared to just 7 percent of girls in the same year group.

The reports shows girls outdoing boys in numeracy and indigenous students and those from other backgrounds making the most progress.

The Education Minister says the results were a "wake-up call" to educators.

"We want to build upon our reforms already by improving the training and quality of teachers coming out of universities, changes to the curriculum to allow more time to focus on the basics, we want to see further there to allow earlier identification and better evidence based practice in schools to insure kids are getting the basics for success," he said.

Earlier screening of year one students across the country will be undertaken to identify whether they're retaining the required skills.

Mr Birmingham said parents could help their child's progress by starting reading and writing in the home earlier.