In response to https://beehive.govt.nz/release/primary-schools-measure-student-progress – August 26, 2017.
Measure. Measure. Measure. Weigh. Weigh. Weigh. Data. Data. Data.
“The Government has made a decision to shift towards a system that measures student progress, alongside National Standards / Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori, to help ensure every student gets the support they need to achieve…
Monitoring student progress gives teachers more data on which to tailor learning plans for their students – and we want to roll this out to all primary schools and kura.”
says Education Minister Nikki Kaye.
More data. More weighing. More testing. More assessment.
Guess what. Teacher’s already monitor progress. I can show you the progress each of my students are making (or not making) in each of the three big subjects that now dominate the New Zealand Curriculum. Obviously not enough though.
“Measuring progression means teachers will be able to see how far children have come in the specific learning areas that make up National Standards.”
In some regards, it is good that the Minister has acknowledged what teachers have been saying for a while. Some students make incredible progress within a year, but are still below or well below the expected standard set by the Standards.
“The change also reflects the education sector’s observation that we don’t adequately show a student’s progress over time, particularly for students who may be below the standard, and this will help address that.”
This is all well and good, but as schools have come to know through the berading from ERO and senior advisers, progress don’t mean jack when it comes to achievement, which is all ‘the Ministry’ and ERO actually care about. 85% At or Above. 85%. 85%. 85%.
Ultimately however, this will actually just lead to the mandatory use of PaCT.
To support teachers the Ministry of Education has developed progress tools, such as Learning Progression Frameworks, the Progress and Consistency Tool and Whakatupuranga, that help show how children are doing and how they can progress. These have been developed in a number of areas including reading, writing, maths and digital technologies.
The Government wants to roll out tools like these to all primary schools and kura as evidence shows they deliver real benefits for teachers and kaiako, by streamlining paperwork and reducing their reporting workload.
There has been copious amounts written about PaCT and it’s potential. Just have a look at the following
- Unleash – The PaCT Tool
- Unleash – The Other side of the PaCT tool
- NZEI – Extreme caution…
- NZEI – National Standards assessment tool…
- SoS – What’s the real reason…?
Education continues down this reform, with National determined on making National Standards legitimate.