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National has once again been caught using dubious data analysis to justify policy, this time claiming there is a crisis in maths teaching.
from Luxon’s speech at the National Party Congress Delivered last weekend:
Today we can tell you shocking new data about students’ maths performance last year.
Looking at kids heading into high school, the data shows that only 22% of students meet the expected standard in math by Year 8. That means four out of five students are falling behind.
This result is deeply worrying but I imagine it will not be surprising to the many parents I know who are frustrated and disappointed with their children’s progress in school.
The situation is even worse: three out of five are more than a year behind.
But there is a problem with this data, dear reader. It involves testing children on subjects they have not yet learned.
Let me say it again.
The data involved tests on subjects that the children had not yet studied.
Radio New Zealand reports:
Education Secretary Erica Stanford defended the 22 per cent figure the government used to support early implementation of maths reforms.
The government claims that only one in five eighth graders are ready for high school, but this is based on a new curriculum that children have not yet learned.
Still, Stanford said the review was more detailed than in the past and the data produced were useful.
She said the government did not need to wait for more years of data to compare with the 22% figure.
The New Zealand Educators Union said the results contradicted previous national and international research, including NMSSA, TIMMS and PISA, which showed higher student achievement.
It questions data that uses courses that have not yet been taught as benchmarks.
Luxon also said in his speech:
After parsing the data, we discovered a very sad story.
In our lowest-rated schools, only 8% of students take math courses by Year 8, and 79% are more than a year behind in math.
Is there a problem with the educational standards of children in our most disadvantaged schools?
Of course.
What is the reason?
So what if I’m poor?
What is the solution?
The first thing that comes to mind is poverty reduction. It makes you wonder why National seems to be doing everything it can to make the plight of the poorest worse.
If we want to look deeper into what has happened over the last 15 years, I believe there is a strong case to be made that National is responsible for the decline in maths standards.
Here is a graph of PISA scores over the past few decades.
So what happened when performance plummeted? Remember the national standard?
I wrote this in 2010.
I have always been interested in the national standards promoted by Tory. The policy has always seemed outrageous to me, initially because it resembled George Bush’s US “No Child Left Behind” policy.
I find Briefing to new Education Ministers after the 2008 General Election. This book is very interesting to read.
The report notes that “pupils’ learning has improved significantly as a result of professional development programmes for teachers in the key areas of literacy, numeracy, ICT and assessment” (p. 17).
I can only quote the following passages, which were obviously written by the best minds in the field of education.
“The Numeracy Development Project was launched in 2000. This professional development programme, led by the Ministry of Education, has been extended to 95 per cent of primary, junior and comprehensive schools (including 85 per cent of Māori schools) and 40 per cent of secondary schools.
Between 2002 and 2007:
- The proportion of sixth graders achieving at or above the expected level in mathematics increased from 40% to 61%.
- The percentage classified as at risk dropped from 30% to 13%. ”
The program relies heavily on teacher professional development. Tory responded to the request by cutting funding for the “digital competence” program.
This recent behavior forms a pattern. In reality, it is an attack on conscientious public servants (in this case, teachers). Define a problem that does not exist. Then prescribe emergency action to justify radical change and show that your actions are effective.
New Zealand deserves better than this.
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