Indigenous school students in New South Wales will be granted access to free benchmarking tests in a move designed to provide education equity between schools.

Education technology provider Janison has gained sponsorship from the University of Sydney to extend a program designed to find and unlock untapped potential in students in outer, regional, remote, very remote and Indigenous and low socioeconomic communities.

The university's support will enable Janison to provide 5,000 student benchmarking tests to schools in target communities, as well as a number of academic competition tests over the next two years. It is likely that the partnership will be extended, which will assist further Indigenous students in the future.

Schools that are successful in applying for the initiative can select a number of students to participate in ICAS assessments.

The program, known as the Data-led Equity Education Program (DEEP), aims to lift learning outcomes among students outside major cities. It centres on the smart use of data as a powerful equaliser among schools, and extends the use of industry-leading student assessment tools to participating schools free of charge.

Findings from the Productivity Commission reveal that students outside major cities are on average 1.75 years behind in literacy and two years behind in numeracy compared with their urban peers.

Janison group executive Amy Barouch says Indigenous schools are encouraged to apply to test full cohorts of students across multiple year levels and subjects in order to take full advantage of the program.

"We're thrilled to have the University of Sydney's support, which will enable us to offer more schools the opportunity to access data for teaching-related decision-making, that will drive student and teacher growth and increased investment in their school," Ms Barouch says.

According to government statistical data, there were 70,052 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in schools across NSW in 2017.