New Zealand

Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science

The Ministry of Education publishes the National Administration Guidelines (NAGs), which set expectations for Boards of Trustees, the principal, and school staff.⁴³ One of these guidelines states that schools should gather information that is sufficiently comprehensive to enable the progress and achievement of students to be evaluated. Priority is placed on student achievement in literacy and numeracy from Years 1 to 8, but other aspects of the curriculum, including science, are expected to be covered.

Under the NAGs, schools with students in Years 1 to 8 are required to report school level data annually to the Secretary of Education that detail:

• School strengths and identified areas for improvement
• The basis for identifying areas for improvement
• Planned actions for lifting achievement
• How students are progressing in relation to Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori and/or National Standards⁴⁴

Reporting of National Standards showed small positive gains of proportions of students at or above standard from 2011 to 2014.⁴⁵

There is no national testing in New Zealand. From Year 11, however, students may choose to undertake assessment in selected NCEA courses that are nationally examined and moderated. Prior to this point, emphasis is placed on the professional judgment of teachers. The ministry provides the Progress and Consistency Tool to support teachers to make judgments against the national standards in mathematics, reading, and writing.⁴⁶

Teachers are encouraged to use evidence from a range of assessment practices to monitor student progress and to diagnose students’ learning needs. New Zealand teachers usually develop their own assessments to meet the needs of their students. While teachers have the freedom to write their own test items, there are many sources of items and tests they can use to compile their assessments. Three main nationally standardized test sources, including intact tests or single items, are available to schools: Assessment Resource Banks, Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning, and Progressive Achievement Tests. Additionally, exemplars are provided for the curriculum and the National Standards to illustrate expected outcomes relative to particular curricular levels. These pre-prepared tasks and tests use a variety of formats, including multiple-choice, constructed response, and practical open-ended tasks.

The Assessment Resource Banks, developed by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), provide items in mathematics and science from which teachers can choose what to assess, for what purpose, and when.⁴⁷ Also produced by NZCER are standardized Progressive Achievement Tests for Mathematics⁴⁸ and Science: Thinking with Evidence.⁴⁹ The science tests are designed to assess how well students use evidence to consider scientific contexts and issues. They allow teachers to identify specific aspects of students’ thinking in the context of science, but do not attempt to measure overall science achievement. Diagnostic information is available for each of these assessment resources to assist teachers in making decisions about student learning needs.

The Electronic Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning is an educational resource for assessing reading, mathematics, and writing at Years 5 to 10.⁵⁰ Teachers can use this resource to create 40-minute, paper-and-pencil tests designed for their students’ learning needs. Once tests are scored, this tool generates interactive graphic reports allowing teachers to analyze student achievement against curriculum levels, curriculum objectives, and population norms.

Schools are expected to use achievement information gathered through relevant assessment tools when performing their self-review of policies, plans, and programs. They are required to report individual achievement to each student and their parents, as well as the achievement of particular student groups and students overall to the school’s community. Reports on individual students in the primary years must include their progress and achievement in relation to National Standards and/or Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori. The reporting must be presented in writing using plain language, and given at least twice a year.^o,51

A major underlying premise of New Zealand’s education system is that teachers and schools should meet the educational needs of individual students.⁵² Students are promoted socially through the year levels.^p At the primary level, the use of classes with students from multiple year levels (composite classes) is widespread. As a result of both social promotion and composite classes, there often is a wide range of abilities in each class. The New Zealand Curriculum recognizes that students are likely to progress at different rates through each learning area, and teachers are expected to adapt their teaching to student needs.⁵³ Assessment is used in this context for formative purposes—to diagnose students’ learning needs and to help improve teaching and learning through quality feedback.⁵⁴

Students usually first experience entry restrictions to secondary school courses when they begin taking papers for qualifications. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification for secondary students. NCEA is awarded at three levels, known as Level 1, 2, and 3. Students usually begin studying for their Level 1 NCEA in Year 11 and continue through the levels in Years 12 and 13. The flexible design of these qualifications enables students to take any combination of courses across levels, depending on their abilities and previous attainments. For example, a Year 13 student could be taking Level 3 arts courses, while also taking Level 1 or 2 language courses.

In each area of learning, different aspects of skills, knowledge, and understanding can be assessed separately, with assessments designed to suit the skill or knowledge being assessed.⁵⁵ A variety of assessment tools, including presentations, assignments, practical tests, and examinations, is used. Schools also can offer a wide range of specialized National Certificates that provide a starting point for further study or simply evidence of a broad general education. These include, for example, the National Certificate of Tourism, National Certificate in Computing, and National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering.

As well as TIMSS, New Zealand also monitors student progress in science and mathematics at the system level by participating in other international studies, including the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), as well as running the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA). NMSSA looks at the achievement of primary school students in Year 4 and Year 8 across all learning areas in the New Zealand Curriculum, including Mathematics and Statistics, and Science.⁵⁶