A pilot program for a new literacy and numeracy high school assessment in New Zealand has revealed the alarming deterioration in education standards, demonstrating an urgent need for education reform, according to an expert.
New Zealand’s National Certificate of Education Achievement (NCEA), the qualification for senior secondary school students, is undergoing changes to ensure results correlate more closely to actual literacy and numeracy skills.
However, the results of a trial run of the new assessments revealed that just over one-third of students reached the writing standard, and around two-thirds reached the reading and numeracy standards.
Michael Johnston, an education expert for the think tank New Zealand Initiative, said it would be difficult to introduce a change that would result in fewer students receiving qualifications….