Government plans for standardised assessments degrade education achievement in schools - Tom Pearce

Education Minister Erica Stanford with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo / Jason Dorday

OPINION

School improvement is a thorny problem for governments across the political spectrum.

During last year’s election campaign National put their stake in the ground, with a promise to have 80 per cent of students at or above the “expected level” in reading, writing, maths and science. It is a lofty goal, and our new Minister of Education now has the unenviable task of having to walk the talk.

In an interview on RNZ’s Nine To Noon programme on Friday, Erica Stanford showed she has understood the true scope of the task. The interview also confirmed that many of the changes National campaigned on are at best minor tweaks to what schools are already doing. At worst, some have the potential to take us backwards.

Assessment is central to their plans. Stanford expressed frustration in her interview at the variety of assessment practices schools were using, saying they didn’t give her the granular detail or consistency she needed to “know where to put resource” or to evaluate if improvement initiatives were working. But there isn’t a single assessment tool that can create the kind of data that the minister wants, and for good reason.

The curriculum is broad, and a single assessment doesn’t give an accurate or complete picture of student progress. This is precisely why schools use a variety of evidence in assessment.

The minister also discussed the Government’s plans for twice-yearly standardised assessments of students from Year 3 onward. There is reason to doubt that these will improve the education system.

Standardised assessments don’t necessarily lead to improved student results, for a start. Five years of national standards certainly didn’t. Standardised assessments also pressure teachers to focus on shallow, superficial skills and knowledge, and they focus school leaders more on meeting external standards than on improving the professional practice of their staff.

So even if test scores improve, they don’t mean students have received a better education. Standardised assessment regimes degrade the quality of the entire education system. Research also shows how harmful it is for students to be labelled as failing, year after year. It can damage their self-efficacy and lower teacher expectations of them, easily becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is a particular concern with neurodivergent students, students with disabilities, or students for whom English is a second language. The minister is already aware of some of these issues. In her interview on Friday she downplayed the assessments, describing them as “low-stakes, light-touch check-ins” that are simply for identifying students who aren’t progressing.

If true, this is no different from what schools already have to do. And that is a broader problem with National’s reforms. Of the four points in their education plan, only one is a significant departure from the status quo. Schools already have to assess and report student progress to parents.

They already have to identify students not making expected progress, and put in place plans to support them. Boards already have to report this data to the Ministry of Education. Most schools are in the final stages of implementing a new curriculum with clear learning progressions. It already has milestones at the end of Year 3, 6 and 8, and smaller steps in between.

We already have high quality national assessment data to show us where resourcing or reform is needed, both from NMSSA and international assessments. The Education Review Office already identifies schools that are in need of further support. And of course, even the minister admits that most students are already getting an hour of reading, writing and maths every day.

The sheer redundancy of most of the proposed changes doesn’t leave me hopeful that the Government will reach its 80 per cent goals. But there are some signs that the minister is on the right track.

She speaks glowingly about the Curriculum Centre that was established in the Ministry of Education. The Curriculum Centre will lead the creation of high quality resources for teachers to use, and the minister wants to see more curriculum experts working in schools to support teachers.

This is the best opportunity for the Government to make a difference. It is by working with teachers and schools that genuine improvement can happen. Because ultimately, our teachers themselves are our greatest resource.

If we want the best for our students, our teachers have to have the training, resources and support they need to do their jobs well.

Tom Pearce is a doctoral student in the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education and Social Work. His research looks at the use of assessment in primary schools.