Teachers say raise the bar on maths and literacy tests

SOME OF NCEA's most popular maths tests are so easy that students still at intermediate school would pass them, teachers say, while some of the literacy tests require "minimal reading and writing".

The secondary school teachers' union is so concerned about the "very low level" of these tests - called standards in NCEA - that it has produced a paper demanding the government raise the bar. The paper lists seven recommendations and is based on the views of 364 teachers.

It highlights a set of core literacy and numeracy standards that teachers believe are far too easy and "not likely to match the community's expectation".

Three particular maths standards, passed by more than 73,000 Year 11 students last year, are considered so easy that students three years younger would be expected to pass. (Take the test, right.)

Teachers are also concerned that some English standards, in speeches and static images (such as posters and book covers), require little reading or writing. PPTA head Robin Duff says that despite their misgivings, teachers let students sit these standards, largely because of the sheer volume of credits needed to pass, and the pressure to get pass rates up.

To pass Level 1 of NCEA students need to have eight credits in literacy, and eight in numeracy (that means passing about four small standards in each area). At the second and third levels there are no such benchmarks.

The union recommends a further literacy and numeracy requirement be added, at Level 2. It also recommends that new standards be written for literacy and numeracy, to stop teachers and students cherry-picking the easiest options.

The union believes its list of changes would declutter the NCEA system, reduce pressure on teachers (who say they spend most of their time assessing, not teaching), and make sure students leave school with more in-depth knowledge.

It was reported last week that teachers believe NCEA is too hard, based on the union's recommendation that each level's certificate benchmark be dropped from 80 credits to 60. The union said this was a "rationalisation" move only, and should not be interpreted to mean it believed the course content was too hard.

Take the test

Would you pass NCEA numeracy? Last year 52,000 students aged about 16 waltzed through by answering questions like these, without calculators:

1. 5 boys share a bag of 55 lollies. How many lollies does each boy get?

2. There were 60 cows inside a shed. 18 walked outside. How many cows were left inside the shed?

3. 38 x 6 = ?

4. David has 35 stamps. Bruce has 70 stamps. How many stamps do they have altogether?

For these ones they could use calculators:

5. Write these percentages as decimals: 34% 52% 8%

6. Write these decimals as fractions: 0.5 0.03 0.95

7. Betty got 13 of the 20 questions correct in a biology test. What percentage did Betty get?

8. Gary ate 25% of a cake. What fraction of the cake did he eat?

Source: Genuine exemplars and answers, provided by the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers, for unit standards 8489 and 8490.

ANSWERS: 1. 11; 2. 42; 3. 228; 4. 105; 5. 0.34, 0.52, 0.08; 6. 1/2 3/100 95/100 = 19/20 7. 65%; 8. 25/100 = 14.

- © Fairfax NZ News