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Is this the start of national testing? No, the decision to analyse this data and release its findings supports the Ministry’s commitment to developing evidence-based policy.
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How is the Ministry addressing the issues raised by the information in this kete? The Ministry is continuing to address issues raised by the asTTle data in a range of ways to improve outcomes for konga. The findings from assessment tools such as asTTle help us to identify what the issues are (e.g. where our konga are strong and where they need better support) and also provide ongoing information as to whether we are making a difference – in the classroom, at kura or across the national system. There are many examples of how the Ministry is working with others to improve konga outcomes. The Ministry is interested in how individual konga perform, but we also need information about how konga are performing across the system. Here are two examples of how this information is used. The New Zealand Curriculum Project has been working to develop new curriculum statements in English and in Te Reo M ori. This project can use the information from asTTle that gives us a picture of how konga in M ori medium education perform overall against the different levels within the existing M ori medium curriculum. This information can also provide useful insights as we develop the new curriculum. The Ministry is also producing a Best Evidence Synthesis on mathematics and p ngarau. This will draw together a wide range of information to assist in improving teaching and learning in those curriculum areas. Again, asTTle provides insight on konga performance within the different learning areas that can help us to determine strategies for improving teaching and learning in particular areas of p ngarau. Other initiatives focused on improving konga outcomes, such as the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, also use asTTle and other assessment data to inform and monitor how we are making a difference.
How do the Curriculum levels relate to the asTTle levels? The development of the levels within the curriculum statements were constructed from an non-indigenous framework. This framework was subsequently used to guide the levels within the curriculum statements used to service M ori medium level 1 and 2 settings. The asTTle tools have been developed within the constraints of these curriculum levels as well.
Years and Curriculum Levels � �
Curriculum Levels
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Year Levels
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Are the findings for boys and girls unique to M ori medium? No. There are differences in the performance of boys and girls across subjects, across years and across countries. However these differences have been shown to vary from subject to subject and from year to year in Aotearoa. And while countries often show similar patterns of performance, often the size of the difference varies from country to country showing that these differences are not inevitable. For example, if you look at the results from the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) in 2000 and 2003, which looks at how 15 year olds in a wide range of countries perform in reading, mathematics and scientific literacy, you find that girls outperform boys in reading literacy in nearly all countries. Even in Finland, where konga perform the best in the world in reading, there is a relatively large gap between the average reading scores of girls and boys with girls performing better overall. If you would like to read further on this topic reports can be found on the Ministry of Education’s website www.minedu.govt.nz.
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If I want to use the asTTle Tool with my class, how do I go about it? If the asTTle assessment tool is not currently available in your kura you can order a CD from the Ministry of Education online at www.asttle.org.nz. Kura will need their ID number to receive the CD free of charge.
If you have any questions regarding the kete, contact the Ministry of Education Research Unit at research.info@minedu.govt.nz.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
1.
What is asTTle?
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The Assessment Tool for Teaching and Learning (asTTle) enables kura and kaiako to assess their Years 4 – 12 konga in literacy and numeracy. This tool is linked to the curricula in both English medium and M ori medium settings. This tool (which is a software package) can be used by kura and kaiako to create and analyse literacy and numeracy tests. These tests can be in English or Te Reo M ori.
Although the asTTle data gathered included information from secondary schools, this has not been reported on in the kit. The reason for this is a technical one. While there were many konga who took part in the M ori medium assessments up to Year 8, after that year level the number of konga assessed was very small. Where data is based on relatively few cases it is more difficult to be sure that it can be used in a valid way. This is why we have omitted it from our kit.
The primary use of the asTTle kit is for kaiako to be able to assess how their konga are achieving in literacy and numeracy and how these konga progress over time. This information can be used by kaiako for planning their work at the classroom and individual konga level. It can be used to provide ongoing information to assist them to improve student achievement. That is – it is used for formative assessment.
This limitation on the secondary data was expressed by a number of people interested in the technical merits of the asTTle data. These people included the asTTle team, external stakeholders, internal working parties and the person asked to review the data from a technical perspective – Professor Richard Harker. They consider that the sample of secondary students assessed during the development of the tool would probably not provide an accurate representation of the majority of konga who study within M ori medium at secondary level.
There are a number of ways that kaiako can use asTTle. For example, one of the benefits of asTTle is to look at konga performance relative to the curriculum levels.
2.
How was asTTle developed for assessment in Te Reo M ori?
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What is the difference between the asTTle data and the NCEA results used in this kit? The asTTle data used in this kit are the data described above; that is they were the data collected by the research team during the development of this resource. These data relate to konga in Years 4 through to 8.
The asTTle M ori medium materials were developed by M ori medium kaiako and M ori educators. The r p participated in a series of w nanga workshops run by the asTTle team to write and review assessment items for p nui, tuhituhi and p ngarau.
3.
Was all the asTTle data collected for the development phase used for this kit?
National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the national qualification for senior secondary students in Aotearoa. NCEA results relate to candidates who have gained at least one National Qualification Framework (NQF) credit in a given year. It relates to konga who tend to be in Years 11 through 13, although konga outside these years also sit NCEA.
Why did we assess p ngarau, tuhituhi, p nui? There are two main reasons why the Ministry decided to assess in these areas. First, literacy and numeracy are important aspects of konga education and assessment in these areas provides us with a valuable insight into student overall achievement.
The findings for asTTle and NCEA relate to two different sets of konga and, while NCEA assessments lead to a qualification, asTTle data is primarily used by kaiako to learn about how their konga are progressing over time.
Second, the scope of our assessment is limited by the scope of the tool and the asTTle tool is an educational resource for assessing p ngarau, tuhituhi, and p nui.
Therefore while it is useful to examine the findings from asTTle and NCEA, the different origin of the data means that making comparisons between the two sets of data should be done with caution.
Ultimately, although the above learning areas are important the Ministry recognises that other aspects of konga education are equally important such as whakarongo (listening) and körero (speaking).
Why is the NEMP data not included in this kit? The M ori medium results were not published at the time this kit was developed.
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What asTTle data are used in this kit? The asTTle data used in this kit is different from that collected on a day-to-day basis by kura and kaiako to inform them about their konga achievement and about their own practice. The asTTle data in this kit were collected on a national basis by the research team at the University of Auckland who developed asTTle. The development of the tool required the research team to collect data from a wide range of konga throughout Aotearoa to build a national picture of how Aotearoa konga perform on the asTTle tasks. konga from a broad range of kura participated in the collection of these data. Once the research team had collected the data from konga, they used it to assess how konga at each year (from Year 4 – 8) perform relative to the different curriculum levels. From this we have a national “snapshot” that can be used by kaiako to compare the progress of their own konga, in terms of the curriculum, to konga more generally in Aotearoa.
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How many konga participated in the collection of these data? Kura identified konga in level 1 (81% to 100% reo immersion) and level 2 (51% to 80%) M ori medium settings throughout Aotearoa. Approximately 7,800 konga from Years 4 to 8 were in the cohorts of konga tested between 2001 to 2004 for the research team’s national data collection.
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How can you use the data from this kit to inform decisions within kura and within the classroom? The Talk About It sheets provided in He Kete Raraunga are examples of the ways that information from this kete can be used to stimulate discussion within kura, among kaiako and with wh nau and kura wh nau. While the information in this kete is about what konga learning in Te Reo M ori can do, in general, you can compare and contrast patterns of performance in the different learning areas in the In Focus report with similar patterns of results for konga in your kura and classroom. For example, there are findings in In Focus: Achievement in P nui (page 4) that show girls performing better than boys on average across all year levels. Is this true for konga in your kura? If it is, what could you do to make a difference? Although the data shows this result on average in Aotearoa, are there boys in your classroom who are reading as well if not better than girls? On the back page of the Talk About It sheets there is an empty template for kura and kaiako to copy and use when comparing and contrasting patterns of performance. asTTle was designed primarily for formative assessment; that is, using the asTTle results konga achieve today to guide how they can be supported to improve their future learning. This is different from summative assessment. An example of summative assessment would be using the asTTle tool before and after a classroom programme to see whether the programme made a difference to what the konga learned.