Making the Grade: Second NCEA literacy and numeracy test results show drop in reading, increase in writing and numeracy

Secondary students will be required to pass a literacy and numeracy test to gain their NCEA qualification.

Less than half of students passed the writing standard in the third pilot of the new NCEA literacy and numeracy test being introduced next year.

While that’s an improvement on the previous trial, there was a significant drop in those who passed the reading part of the assessment.

In the September 2022 trial 58 per cent of students passed the reading component - down from 64 per cent in June.

Writing improved slightly from 34 per cent in June to 46 per cent in September and numeracy increased from 56 per cent to 57 per cent.

The pass rate over the two trials was slightly higher for each component because some students who failed in June resat the test in September and passed.

Across the two pilots, 67 per cent passed reading, 50 per cent passed writing and 64 per cent passed numeracy.

From next year students will need to pass the new numeracy and literacy standards to be awarded NCEA at any level.

The test will be held twice a year and students can sit the test multiple times if required. Students can sit it at any stage during secondary school.

The evaluation report noted more than 80 per cent of students who took part were in Year 10 and some schools submitted whole cohorts rather than selecting students who were deemed “ready” to sit the test.

The e-asTTle tests proved to be a relatively good indicator of a student’s readiness to sit the assessment with almost three-quarters of students at the minimum recommended readiness passing the assessment within two attempts.

The pass rates for low-decile schools remained low but were a vast improvement on the June results.

Achievement by decile from the September pilot of the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite. Image / Ministry of Education

Among decile 1 schools, 19.5 per cent passed the writing component in September compared with 2 per cent in June. Reading passes increased from 24 per cent to 26 per cent in September and numeracy went from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.

The evaluation report concluded that some of the disparity was because lower decile schools had a greater proportion of students who were not at the recommended readiness level.

Even taking this into account, there was still a significant disparity in the achievement rates of low- and high-decile schools.

June’s pilot also found just 24 per cent of students passed te reo matatini (Māori language literacy) and 18 per cent passed pāngarau (Māori language numeracy).

In September that increased to 43.5 per cent for te reo matatini and 30 per cent for pāngarau.

A smaller trial in 2021 also gained poor results, with about two-thirds of students failing writing and about a third failing both the reading and numeracy section.

The standards are being introduced because a study found 40 per cent of students who got NCEA level 2 were not functionally literate or numerate.

This month it was revealed the Ministry of Education told NZQA, which designed the tests, test design factors could be making the tests more difficult than they should be.

It is understood officials were worried about the high failure rate of the pilot tests.

Documents obtained by RNZ showed that in October last year, the ministry requested changes including fewer questions, the use of simpler language, allowing students to use spell-checking software, and providing a paper-based option if students did not want to sit the tests online.

NZQA responded in November dismissing the ministry’s requests and suggesting the ministry was not respecting its expertise in setting tests.