Information for Parents » National Standards
This page contains information and updates relating to National Standards.
Below we also have exerts from our Principal's Reports in our school newsletters, that give information on National Standards.
Please check back regularly as we will post further information as it becomes available.
Supporting your child's learning
As whānau you play a big part in your child's learning every day, and you can support and build on what they learn at school too.
Below is a link to the National Standards - "Supporting your child's learning" page on the Ministry of Education website.
Supporting your child's learning
This section has information and tips on getting involved in your child's reading, writing and mathematics learning while they are in years 1-8 at school. There is a page for each year level to help you understand the National Standards and how you can support your child's learning at home.
Ministry of Education Website
Information from our Principal on National Standards, as reported in our newsletters.
Update on the National Standards March 2010
During March the Advisors from the University attended a two day workshop in Auckland being briefed about the standards. They subsequently held half day seminars for principals and two senior staff from each school. We attended one of these seminars in the last week of last term. From the information covered it appears we are progressing with our implementation in a considered and effective manner. Our Board and Leadership team are working with an external facilitator to review our progress. Over the next two terms all teachers will have several days' release to become familiar with the standards and moderation processes. It is anticipated that we will need most of this year and next to become fully familiar and confident in accurately assessing against the National Standards. The Ministry of Education is working hard to support our work by analysing and matching assessment tools to the standards. Once that is completed we will be able to use the tools to report to you as required.
National Standards Video May 2010
The Board of Trustees and leadership team have been filmed using some of the supporting resources provided by the Ministry of Education. The videos will be used to demonstrate to other schools how the tools can be used effectively to implement the standards. There is still a lot of work to be done before we will be fully familiar and confident with the national standards but we are making very good progress.
National Standards
As many of you know there is a requirement to report in writing at some stage during the year both the progress students are making against the National Standards and then at the end of each year actual achievement against the National Standards.
Most of the training and resources for schools to develop their systems to meet this requirement are not yet in place. However I can assure you that the reports you received last term which showed your child's current achievement in reading and maths, and the one page report you get in Term 3 showing achievement in writing, will give you a very reliable indication of your child's achievement against the National Standards.
Any student shown to be achieving at or above the expected level for their age on those reports is making appropriate progress towards the National Standards. Those not achieving at the expected level for their age may still have made progress since last year, but that progress is not likely to see them meet the National Standard by the end of the year. Remember that the National Standards outline what most students may achieve at specific stages in their learning.
National Standards Update June 2010
By the end of the term all the syndicate leaders will have attended a training workshop for the national standards and all teachers will have had two days release to begin working with them. This will ensure we start to develop judgements on student achievement that are consistent, fair and sufficiently comprehensive. Next term we will be reviewing our written reports to ensure they are easy to understand, show progress as well as achievement against the standards and encourage and motivate students. Next year we are considering the introduction of three-way conferences which place students at the centre of the feedback and identification of next learning steps. This model better reflects the intent of both the standards and the New Zealand Curriculum i.e. developing " confident, connected, life long learners." Many schools have introduced this model and we would take the best of their practices to develop and train teachers and students if we proceed. These conferences would replace the traditional parent/teacher meeting but not the ongoing communication or opportunities to meet to discuss matters that are more appropriate for the parents and teachers to discuss on their own.
National Standards Update July 2010
Many of you will have heard the national standards debate over the holidays. While I have concerns about the design of the standards and the speed with which they are being implemented, I can assure parents that our teachers are working hard to familiarise themselves with the standards so that they will be able to make the overall teacher judgements (OTJs) about students' progress in relation to the standards. Our end of year reports will identify your child's achievement against the standards, identify their next steps and provide links to places you as parents can go to find ways to support your student at home.
National Standards August 2010
As we work towards implementing the National Standards we are discovering issues and challenges that schools and parents will need to manage. As we improve our understanding we will be communicating to parents ways to use the information to support their child's learning.
To date Russley School has focussed on the positive aspects of the National Standards which are:
They have affirmed the importance of the school's self review of its current assessment and reporting practices.
They have reinforced the importance of consistent assessment and expectations of student progress across the whole school and the importance of the moderation process in this.
The advisors have provided curriculum leaders with greater clarity about student achievement progress and ways to track and report this.
They affirm the intent of the New Zealand Curriculum which is to develop ways in which students have more control over, and say about, their own learning.
However the short timeframe for implementing the standards has, in our view, compromised their design and they do not fit with our current assessment tools. It has become clear that there are some fundamental technical faults that we have to overcome.
We will schedule opportunities for you to find out more about these issues and how they may have impacted on your student, after the end of year reports have been sent home. At that time the faults will have more relevance and you may want the opportunity to discuss the information.
National Standards September 2010
Our last newsletter outlined the positives about the National Standards and identified that they have raised some difficult issues. The hasty timeframe for implementing the standards has unfortunately compromised their design and match with the assessment tools currently used in schools. This has become clearer over time and some fundamental technical faults have been identified.
These technical faults will make it very difficult for teachers to make reliable and valid overall teacher judgements against the standards by the end of this year and impossible for these judgements to be consistent across the country. Individual schools may achieve a consistent standard of assessment but with so much inconsistency in the design and interpretation of the standards it will take years to achieve a national standard i.e. consistency across all schools. Those of you who have older students involved in NCEA will be familiar with this situation. Secondary teachers are still working on moderating assessment and seeking national consistency in NCEA.
This will make it very difficult to provide reliable and valid information for parents at the end of the year and the Board of Trustees for setting 2011 targets.
One of the biggest flaws in the design of the standards is that they do not match current student achievement patterns. A report from the New Zealand Council for Research in Education (NZCER) outlines the implications of this problem i.e. that most students currently deemed to be making good progress will not meet the standards and only about 20% of Year 8 students are expected to meet the standards. I have put this article up on the website if you are interested in reading more about it. In spite of all the public debate I believe our focus must remain on ensuring students, teachers and parents know what their students can do, what they need to learn next and how they can be supported to achieve those goals. This is still the best way to keep students motivated and successful.
At the end of this term we will send out a Term 3 progress report to show progress against the National Standards. When you look at the reports remember that students are not expected to meet the standards until the end of a year.
National Standards October 2010
We were visited by the Prime Minister, John Key, on Friday morning. He had requested an opportunity to talk to me about the implementation of National Standards. The discussions were very positive and he spent over an hour here talking first to me and then our team leaders. It was a real pleasure to have had such a distinguished guest and to know that he is trying to address some of the problems that schools are having with the implementation of the National Standards.
In the last newsletter of Term 3, I identified some of those issues. Having received your Term 3 report you may be starting to get a better understanding of them. I described how the speed of implementation means there can be no confidence in any national consistency i.e. between schools. We had a very real example of that recently when we received reports from another school. That school had judged the students as 'meeting the standards' yet at our school those students would have been assessed as 'below' if not 'well below' the standards.
Many thanks to those parents who have been working with us to redesign our end of year report format to meet the new requirements.
National Standards November 2010
You will receive your student's end of year report on Friday 10th December. It is the first time we will have reported achievement against the National Standards. We thank the parents in our advisory group who helped us with the design of the report format. Your input has been of enormous help in presenting complex information in plain language.
Our ultimate goal is still to ensure students are "confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners". (New Zealand Curriculum 2010). We remain concerned about the negative impact of the standards - given the hasty implementation, mismatch with current assessment tools and lack of time and training for teachers to be able to confidently and accurately use the standards.
Teachers have worked incredibly hard and done their very best but we are worried that these reports may discourage students if they are identified as not meeting the standards. Parents and students need to know that students who are achieving at a level well above the national average according to long established and respected assessments such as PATs, may not meet the standard because the standards are aspirational and future focused. i.e. they have been set at a very high level. We will be emphasising this to students and hope you, as parents, do the same. I will be available to meet with parents who need the reports explained in more detail, at the following times:
Monday 13th December 9am, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Wednesday 15th December 9am, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Newsletter 16 - 17th November 2010
Teachers are currently preparing reports which will be sent home on Friday 10th December. Reports will indicate the National Standards and what level your child is currently working at. I am concerned that students not meeting the National Standard may become discouraged and I advise parents to help children see that the point of the report is to show where they might set their next learning goal.
Newsletter 17 - 1st December 2010
Reports come home on Friday 10th December. As you read them please remember that there is a mismatch between the assessment tools used in schools, e.g. PATs, and the new National Standards. This issue is being addressed by the Ministry of Education but not before reports are sent out.
This may result in your child, previously been identified through PATs as having made good progress for their age not meeting the National Standard. The PAT information is based on years of evidence of what students in New Zealand have achieved while the standards are based on what a group of curriculum advisors identified students should achieve to reach NCEA Level 2.
The Board is worried about the negative impact this may have on student motivation and urges parents to use the information to praise their child for their hard work and effort .
If you find the information related to the National Standards confusing I am available at the following times to discuss them with you: Monday 13th December at 2.15pm or Wednesday 15th December at 9.00am or 7.30pm. Please let the office know if you wish to attend either of the night sessions as these will only be held if we have confirmation of numbers attending. The school website has further information and the pamphlet recently sent home is also excellent. I would recommend that you keep this handy for next year too.