Students will eventually have to pass all three tests before they can receive an NCEA qualification. Photo: 123RF
Nearly half the teenagers who sat the first run of new NCEA maths and writing tests earlier this year failed.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said 41,000 secondary school students attempted some or all of the assessments in June with pass rates of 56.3 in writing, 55.9 percent in numeracy and 64.4 percent in reading.
The students' schools opted-in to the tests, which become a mandatory part of the NCEA next year.
The writing result was a marked improvement on trials held last year and in 2021 where pass rates ranged from 34 to 46 percent.
The maths result was little different to last year's trials but lower than the figure of 65 percent from the 2021 trial.
The reading result was better than in September 2022, but about the same as in June 2022, and slightly lower than in 2021.
The MOE said: "It's important to consider the context of the assessment when looking at the results - they are not results from 15 to 18-year-olds undertaking NCEA. Over 70 percent of ākonga who attempted the assessments in June 2023 are in Year 10. Further work would be required to be able to gauge school entry processes and readiness judgements.
"The co-requisite standards are designed to directly and specifically assess foundational reading, writing, numeracy, te reo mātatini and pāngarau skills. Student achievement rates are expected to improve as students and teachers become more familiar with the requirements of the standards, and targeted teaching and learning develops."
The government had intended to make passing the tests a condition of receiving any NCEA qualification from 2024.
Students would be allowed to attempt the tests twice a year and could have multiple attempts over several years.
However, earlier this year it announced that in 2024 and 2025 students could instead reach the literacy and numeracy requirement through an approved set of internally-assessed standards.
The low pass rates have alarmed some principals in schools with large numbers of Māori and Pacific students, and advocates for children with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Auckland Secondary School Principals Association president Greg Pierce said the results seemed to be becoming more consistent with a slight upward trend in writing and maths since the original pilots.
But he cautioned against regarding the most recent results as reliable national averages because schools were applying different approaches to the tests.
Some were allowing all of their Year 10 students to sit the assessments, others were restricting them to students judged to be performing at the curriculum level necessary to pass the assessments, and some schools were not participating at all.
"A question remains over the user-friendly aspect of these assessments in terms of students having to complete online and at the sane time for reading, writing.
"In terms of contextual framework I do think these are becoming more culturally responsive and appropriate," Pierce said.
Earlier this week, National Party education spokesperson Erica Stanford said the results were proof of Labour's poor record in education during its time in government.
However, evidence of teenagers' poor performance in literacy and numeracy tests pre-dates the current government.
The MOE advised the then-National government in 2015 that the NCEA literacy and numeracy benchmarks were not fit for purpose.
That advice followed a 2014 report for the Tertiary Education Commission from independent consultants Maths Technology which said 40 percent of school children and young people in low-level tertiary courses who had NCEA level 2 failed a test of adult literacy and numeracy in 2012.
Analysing the results
An assessment report accompanying the results of the June tests said schools should think twice before re-entering students for tests they had already failed once.
"Careful consideration must be given to simply re-entering students for the second assessment because they didn't achieve in the first one. Ensure students have undergone sufficient additional teaching to address areas of weakness, and they are well prepared before they attempt an assessment again," it said.
The report said experienced teachers marked the tests and included their observations about common strengths and weaknesses.
They said students who failed the numeracy assessment had difficulty using fractions, applying the scale on a map or picture, and changing a price by a simple percentage.
Those who failed the writing test often had problems editing and proofreading their writing, structuring their writing clearly, and staying on the required topic.
The report said students who failed the reading test had trouble with closely reading the texts, understanding the writer's purpose and intended audience and making decisions about the relevance and reliability of information.
NCEA literacy and numeracy trial results. Photo: Supplied