Parents give Tolley an A

BY RACHEL YOUNG

Marlborough parents who turned out to hear from Education Minister Anne Tolley last night gave her government's controversial National Standards for schools a tick of approval. National Standards have been implemented in the country's primary schools this year.

Mrs Tolley spoke to about 30 parents at the Heartland Hotel Marlborough in Blenheim. She is travelling the country to put the case for the standards to parents, after a less than warm welcome to the programme by many teachers.

The standards will see every pupil from years 1 to 8 measured against academic achievement standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

Mrs Tolley said the standards would provide a benchmark for parents, teachers and students to work toward with the aim of every child progressing through to high school to complete National Certificate of Education Achievement level 2.

After the meeting, several parents said they approved of the programme.

Father Samuel Rubie said standards could tell the board of trustees members what has been working, and the board could use the measurement data it will provide to decide where money needs to be spent.

During the meeting, one parent questioned the impact on children with special education needs.

Mrs Tolley said individual schools could chose whether to use the standards for these children.

Another parent asked Mrs Tolley for a guarantee that struggling students would get the help they needed.

In response, Mrs Tolley said National Standards would help the school's board of trustees in making financial decisions.

She said another $36 million was budgeted for supporting schools, though how this was to be spent was not decided. Mrs Tolley said schools would continue to use their own assessments with the National Standards acting as benchmarks.

Mrs Tolley's goal is to have every New Zealand child leave school with a qualification. "It's really important that schools identify students who need help and then work with their parents."

Several people at the meeting questioned what would happen to those students whose parents were "disengaged".

Parent and board of trustees member Grant Croswell said parents needed to realise how important education was for children. He questioned what the ministry could do to help get parents more involved, but he supported the introduction of standards.

NATIONAL STANDARDS

National standards are benchmarks for primary and intermediate schools to identify when students are not meeting expected levels of achievement in reading, writing and maths.

All schools nationwide use the same standards to assess progress from years 1 to 8.

The Education Review Office will check there is consistency between schools.

Subjects other than reading, writing and maths will still be reported by schools as they currently do.

Schools must provide written reports to parents, families and whanau at least twice a year about their child's progress and achievement, in relation to the standards. These reports should include telling parents whether their child is working at the right level for their age and where they sit in relation to the standard.

The standards were developed by the Ministry of Education and education experts.

- The Marlborough Express