NCEA literacy and numeracy pass rates drop, leaving thousands without qualifications

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By John Gerritsen of RNZ

Barely half the teenagers who tried to pass the critical NCEA literacy and numeracy benchmark via online tests this year have succeeded, final results indicate.

The Qualifications Authority has published results of the September round of the tests and also the cumulative results considering both the September and May rounds.

They show that more than 100,000 students attempted at least one of the tests over the two rounds, with more than 80,000 sitting each subject. They had pass rates of 55% in numeracy, 66% in writing and 70% in reading.

Students must pass all three tests before they can receive any NCEA qualifications.

The numeracy result indicated at least 39,000 students remained ineligible for an NCEA certificate.

However, most of the students who attempted the tests this year were in Year 10 (51,252), with a further 25,820 in Year 11 – groups that had at least one or two more years of schooling in which to attempt the tests again.

The Qualifications Authority said it had not yet calculated how many of the students who attempted a co-requisite standard this year had all the credits they needed to achieve the co-requisite.

“Students may be attempting the co-requisite assessments over more than one year [e.g. Year 10 and Year 11], and/or through a mix of the specific Literacy, Numeracy, Te Reo Matatini and Te Pāngarau standards and the approved list of literacy- or numeracy-rich achievement standards,” it said.

In 2023, 66,500 students attempted the two rounds of tests with overall pass rates of 69% in reading, 64% in writing and 62% in numeracy.

Principals have expressed worries that the tests would dramatically increase the percentage of students leaving school with no qualifications.

In 2023, 16% of school leavers had no NCEA qualification, up from 11% in 2019.

The Government is spending $2.5 million on last-ditch assistance to help about 10,000 students at 160 schools pass the tests.

The results also showed extremely low pass rates at the third of schools with more socioeconomic barriers to achievement than other schools.

Their pass rates were just 28% in the numeracy tests, 44% in writing and 47% in reading.

An assessment report said students who did not achieve the numeracy standard in the September tests had difficulty connecting realistic everyday contexts with the maths and statistics used in those contexts; reflecting on the reasonableness of calculated answers and measurements; and interpreting graphs and numeric scales.

They also had difficulty with basic units of measurement, working with scale drawings and maps, and working with rates and ratios.

The report for the reading and writing assessments said those who failed had trouble following the assessment instructions and the instructions for each topic; planning their answers to avoid going off topic, and organising their ideas to avoid jumping around or repetition.

Many students also needed to improve their editing and proofreading to ensure accurate spelling, punctuation and use of capital letters, the report said.

Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault said the results showed some improvements in the literacy pass rates since 2023, but the “blip” in the numeracy result was concerning.

Numeracy teachers would be wondering what had happened, he said.

Students were also attempting to reach the literacy and numeracy requirement by passing approved achievement standards, so the overall achievement rate might improve slightly.

“Those numbers in terms of getting literacy, numeracy either through the co-requisite or through the transitional arrangements might go northward a little bit, but overall we’re still a bit worried about what that will do to NCEA level 1 pass rates.”

Schools were working tirelessly to fill the gaps in students' knowledge, Couillault said.

“Everyone’s context is different, so there’s schools like mine where out of 1600 students, 400 of those are ESOL (English as a second language) and so a quarter of my population is in its first two years of English-speaking tuition. Schools that experience that sort of thing are likely to have softer literacy, numeracy pass rates because they haven’t had the time to get the kids up speed yet.”

- RNZ

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