Numbers offer few ways to rate schools

By STUART DYE education reporter

The comprehensive new NCEA statistics system offers no easy way for parents to rate their child's school against others.

Hundreds of schools are profiled online as part of the Qualifications Authority's annual release of statistics.

But the traditional comparison of "success rates" at schools presumes common targets, and under the NCEA there are no nationally prescribed courses.

Schools are developing different learning programmes and using standards in varying combinations.

Rosehill College principal Graeme Macann said there were few surprises in his school's NCEA profile. "We've performed about where we thought we should."

The table shows that Rosehill had 1033 students in its senior school last July 1. Only about 77 per cent of those entered NCEA - the missing percentage is simply students who have left since that date.

Rosehill College hovers round the average achievement for its decile band at NCEA level one, and just above for level two.

The fact that students are performing better in achievement standards rather than unit standards "reflects our commitment to academic subjects", said Mr Macann.

Schools concentrating on industry training would have a higher unit standard performance.

Rosehill scores highly in numeracy and literacy - about 5 per cent above national and decile averages. These are a level one qualification only.

Some schools may perform badly in literacy, but that could reflect large student populations where English is a second language.

The final figures give the average number of merit and excellence results. Students pass with achievement, merit or excellence - the equivalent of the old C, B or A grades.

Every school entered in NCEA has a profile at www.nzqa.govt.nz. The site gives the number of courses a school offers and breaks down results by unit and achievement standards, for years 11, 12 and 13.

"Under the old system we had almost no information compared to what is in the school profiles," said Mr Macann.

"It is incredibly useful in allowing us to benchmark against other schools in the same decile band."