Progress on standards review

Background Material

16 June, 2008

The Ministry of Education (MoE) and NZQA are reviewing achievement and unit standards, as part of the joint programme of improvements to NCEA.

The review of achievement standards, and those unit standards derived from the new New Zealand Curriculum, is scheduled to be completed by 2010.

The review is required to align standards to the new Curriculum. It will also address any issues of duplication, credit parity, consistency, fairness and coherence, one of the series of improvements to NCEA announced in May 2007.

To date, improvements made include endorsement of NCEA Certificates, introduced last year, the appointment of fulltime moderators to increase confidence in internal assessment, random sampling of internal assessment for moderation, comparison of internal and external assessment results, and the introduction of exemplars.

The standards review will be conducted by panels of subject experts, formed from subject associations, using principles developed by an expert group made up of representatives from throughout the education sector. Reviewed standards will also be assessed by NZQA's technical overview group of university professors.

NZQA Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications, Bali Haque said the review of standards would take place alongside implementation of the new Curriculum.

"We have a rare opportunity to align the curriculum development process with the assessment development process. We haven't had that opportunity before," he said.

The review will be carried out according to six principles developed by the expert group:

1. The standard must be derived from a curriculum or established body of knowledge.
2. A standard must have a clear purpose.
3. A Standard must allow valid and reliable assessment
4. Where more than one credit-bearing grade is available, grade distinctions must be based on qualitative differences in achievement.
5. Credit Parity (between standards)
6. Standards should not duplicate one another.

Background Material

For more information contact:

Steve Rendle
Communications - NZQA
DDI: 04-463-4240
Mobile : 0274-575783