Better Public Achievement Information

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today outlined the Government’s approach to improving the quality and use of achievement information at year, school and national level.

Public Achievement Information (PAI) will be available on the Ministry of Education’s ‘Education Counts’ website.

It will allow parents to see how their child’s school is performing and will allow the Government to see how well the system is doing as a whole in order to raise achievement for all learners.

Public Achievement Information will include National Standards data, Education Review Office (ERO) reports, schools’ annual reports and NCEA data. Over time other relevant national and international reports will be added.

National Standards data, reported for the first time this year, will be published on the website in September in the format that schools’ submitted it.

“I accept that the data is variable. It is the first year, and no consistent format was required so that was to be expected. It can only get better and better both in quality and its use over time and we want to work with schools to do this,” says Ms Parata.

“We have developed a five year plan - reflecting our five year Better Public Service education targets - to improve year on year the quality and use of National Standards data.

The 5 year plan includes:

• Clear annual outcomes for learners, parents, teachers, boards of trustees and education sector agencies

• Consistent reporting format, by whole school and by year level

• Revised timelines that better reflect the planning, reporting, and delivery cycles for the school calendar year

• Achievement milestones and targets that work towards our Better Public Service target of 85 per cent of 18 year-olds achieving NCEA Level 2 or equivalent in 2017

• Aligned professional learning and development, and other support tools and services to assist schools

“We have an education system that is among the best in the world. Four out of five kids are successfully getting the qualifications they need from school and we must celebrate their success and the professionals in our system who make that possible every day. But our Government’s education plan is about getting five out of five,’’ Ms Parata says.

“We want all our kids to leave school with the skills they need to reach their potential in the modern economy. That means lifting up those who are being left behind, and encouraging those who are doing well to do even better. This will require a system wide lift in achievement.

“Having robust, quality data that helps us all to understand and support a student’s learning is one of the ways we are working to achieve this, and this is a key feature of high performance education systems internationally.

“This plan reflects the principles endorsed by the Ministerial Cross Sector Forum. I am delighted that we have been able to work together on this.’’

For more information go to - http://www.minedu.govt.nz/Parents/YourChild/ProgressAndAchievement/NationalStandards.aspx