Principals from schools in the country’s poorest communities have united to call for an end to new NCEA reading, writing and maths tests.
They warn the online tests will create a generation of school-leavers with no qualifications and most will be Māori or Pacific.
After two rounds of reading, writing and maths tests last year, the failure rate for teens from low-income schools was through the roof.
More than half failed the reading and writing tests and nearly three-quarters failed the numeracy test.
None of those students can get an NCEA qualification until they pass the tests or complete up to 20 extra credits in literacy and numeracy – an option that is available only until the end of 2027. . .
Simon Craggs from Papakura High School said 50 principals from schools with an equity index number of 500 or greater – indicating their students face many socio-economic barriers to learning – wanted it to stop.
“We believe that there’s an equity crisis approaching in education, or is already here actually. If you look at the results from 2024 you’ll see that the results particularly at level 1 for students in the lowest socio-economic band have dropped off a cliff,” he said.
He said the fall in achievement was due to the literacy and numeracy requirements and the schools wanted an end to the online tests.
They also wanted the alternative 20-credit option for meeting the literacy and numeracy requirement to become permanent instead of ending in December 2027, and they want it to count toward the 60 credits students’ need for an NCEA certificate. . .
What’s leading to the high failure rate – is the cause that the tests are online or is it the pupils’ literacy and numeracy?
If it’s the pupils’ ability, the principals’ request for an end to the tests is showing a lack of ambition for their pupils and schools.
If it’s that pupils don’t do well with online tests, but are literate and numerate, a request for a different way of testing might be reasonable.
Mākoura College principal Simon Fuller said the problem was probably the number one issue for most high equity index schools.
He said the schools were facing a 70 percent failure rate once the common assessment activities or CAAs became the only route to achieving the literacy and numeracy requirements.
“Our NCEA results are really good but that’s not due to the CAAs, that’s due to the alternative pathway, which I believe is just as a robust as a CAA. So our statistics are holding up, but if it comes down to only getting NCEA if you know can pass the CAA, then we’ll go from an 85 percent pass rate to 35 percent which is a huge impact on our kids,” he said.
Fuller said teenagers had not had the benefit of the latest changes to literacy teaching in primary schools and the online tests were not a fair test of their abilities.
“It’s not that they can’t necessarily read, write and do maths, they just can’t do it in that form of exam. And you know, realistically how many exams do you sit when you’re a functional member of society, it’s very few.”
Jim Hay-Mackenzie from Flaxmere College said students who the school assessed as having the necessary level of literacy and numeracy still failed the online tests.
“The issue that we have at Flaxmere College is the way it’s being assessed, which is through the online test of reading and writing and numeracy. Many of our students aren’t very good at tests and exams, and our data’s shown that students that have met the requirements through our testing have not been able to handle the pressure of a 60-minute test,” he said.
Hay-Mackenzie said many of the school’s students struggled with the online nature of the tests and would do better with hard copy, paper-based tests.
He said he would prefer a literacy and numeracy assessment via a portfolio of work, but failing that, a hard-copy test. . .
Would not coping with an online test have a bearing on the pupils’ ability to cope in further study, training or a job?
If it doesn’t, what would be wrong with allowing them to use pens and paper?
If it does the schools, the pupils and their families have a lot of work to do to get the teens up to the required standards and the principals calling for the change are doing their pupils, and the country, a serious disservice.
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
It would be of great interest to sample a test. Personally I loathe on line interactions and would do abyssmally in most. But if congenital, cultural or somesuch reason a sector of the population fail it is vital the standard for the rest is not lowered to incorporate.
Socio economic barriers have increased in direct relationship to the growth of the social welfare state.
Fix that problem first.
I take an issue with this type of thinking: “And you know, realistically how many exams do you sit when you’re a functional member of society, it’s very few.” Passing tests and exams builds child’s confidence. Confident children learn easier and better - isn’t that what we want?
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