Some principals are wary of revealing the new equity index numbers that are replacing decile numbers as the measure of socio-economic disadvantage in their schools.
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They are worried the numbers, which range from 344 to 569, could be misused as a proxy for school quality, just as decile numbers have been.
But they say they won't know the full meaning of the new numbers until they find out how much extra funding is attached to them.
Equity numbers are based on information about individual children at each school, unlike deciles which use information about their neighbourhoods. Higher numbers indicate a higher concentration of students facing socioeconomic barriers.
Rowandale School in Auckland is decile 1-A, the very highest level of need in the decile system, and its principal, Karl Vasau, said he would not be sharing his new equity number.
"If I start talking about numbers then people start to judge and that's some of the reasons behind getting rid of the decile funding," he said.
Asked if Rowandale's number correctly reflected its level of socioeconomic need, Vasau said that would depend on how much money his school received.
"Until we see the funding that's been allocated to our school to help us to bridge the gap, to provide an education for our students that is on that allows the equity issues and the funding issues to kick in, I can't answer that question."
Glenfield College principal Paul McKinley was another who was not sharing his school's number just yet.
"While we're not telling you our equity index number, our decile number which is public knowledge is a 6, and of course being a 6 is arguably one of the worst deciles you can be because you're neither one nor the other," he said.
McKinley said he hoped his school would be better off under the new system because as a mid-decile school it did not get a lot of extra funding under the current system.
He said he expected public understanding of the equity system would follow a similar pattern to the NCEA qualification - people would take time to understand it.
"It's going to take a while for the public to adjust and themselves understand what the numbers represent. So arguably they'll stick with the status quo perception, which is a challenge in education," he said.
"The two biggest challenges in education at the moment are the words equity and excellence. Hopefully it will balance out the equity and lead to more excellence across all schools."
The principal of Oropi School in Tauranga, Andrew King, said his school's number was 433, slightly below the national average of 463.
He said it was a better reflection of the school's roll than its current decile 8 rating.
"Even though we have less children coming from more difficult situations, we certainly have a big chunk that we need to be able to cater for and I think the equity index and where we're on in that scale is going to recognise that," he said.
Wellington Girls' College principal Julia Davidson could not recall her equity number when RNZ called and she said she would not know what it actually meant until the funding information was provided.
"I don't quite know how to respond to it. We'll wait and see what it means in dollar terms in September," she said.
"We were a decile 10 and so we knew we had kids who were decile 1 kids and I guess this means it reflects it more, so that's a good thing."
She doubted people would misuse the numbers as a proxy for school quality.
"They're on what, a 250 or 60-point scale. So I would have thought it was meaningless really for that sort of thing," Davidson said.
Education Ministry figures showed few schools had very high or low equity numbers.
Schools in Tai Tokerau had the highest average number at 506, while the lowest was 444 in Canterbury.