KEY POINTS:
One of the most controversial reforms to secondary schooling finally appears to be producing better results.
More students are getting NCEA qualifications at all levels, giving some solace to those who worked to iron out the wrinkles which beset the system's first years.
Figures released yesterday show proportionately more students in 2006 passed the National Certificate in Educational Achievement levels one to three than in the previous year, continuing the trend of the past four years.
Since NCEA level one was first introduced in schools in 2001, the proportion of students passing it in year 11 has increased from 53 per cent to 60 per cent, say the statistics released by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
There were also boosts at levels two and three - last year, nearly two-thirds of Year 12 students got NCEA level two compared with 48 per cent in its first year in 2003.
At year 13, level three was passed by 53 per cent of students last year - up from 49 per cent in 2004.
The numbers passing compulsory literacy and numeracy in Year 11 have increased by about three percentage points each year - literacy was up from 70 per cent in 2004 to 76 per cent last year, and numeracy up from 76 per cent in 2004 to 83 per cent last year.
Education Minister Steve Maharey said students and teachers deserved a pat on the back for the improvements, which showed the system was successful.
"NCEA gives a wider range of possibilities, giving brighter students the opportunity to show it, rather than being limited by a pass/fail from the previous system."
National Party education spokes-woman Katherine Rich said improvements in literacy and numeracy were encouraging but still low, with one quarter of year 11 students unable to pass literacy and 17 per cent missing numeracy.
"If you should get anything out of an education system it is being able to read and write. There are still issues there around students in the lower decile schools. In some pockets of New Zealand up to 65 per cent of children leave school without level one. It needs to be fine-tuned to stop that and also to ensure there is more to motivate the top achievers."
Ms Rich said NZQA needed a robust moderation system to ensure schools did not use internal assessment more to boost their scores.
Auckland University dean of education John Langley said the improved results were not a sign that the qualification was getting easier or the marking more lenient.
"I would have thought we should be very happy that we have more children achieving the standards. Isn't that a success story? I don't think kids are brighter or the curriculum is easier. It's not that things are easier or marking is more slack. It might just mean we are being more accurate with what we measure and how we do it."
The gaps between boys and girls and students at schools in poor areas compared with high-decile schools remained wide, despite the boost in achievement across the board.
The number of students getting level one at decile one to three schools was up from 33 per cent in 2003 to 44 per cent in 2006.
However, less than half passed levels one and two at decile one to three schools, compared with over 70 per cent at decile eight to 10 schools.
The statistics held some good news for boys - achievement levels were up across all levels and the number getting level two had risen from 42 per cent to 58 per cent since 2003.
However, girls retained the 10 percentage point advantage they have held over boys for the past four years and the single sex girls' schools were the stellar performers, getting results well above those of boys' or co-ed schools.
Forty-four per cent of boys got university entrance, compared with 55 per cent of girls, a similar gap to the previous two years. The gap was similar at all levels of NCEA.
Boys' educational consultant Joseph Driessen said the gap between males and females needed to be addressed. While some schools had set up programmes in a bid to close the divide, more systemic action was needed from the kindergarten up.
