New Rules and Procedures for Further Assessment Opportunities
15 July 2009
Secondary school students will have a maximum of one reassessment chance for internally assessed NCEA standards from 2010, under new rules and procedures announced by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).
This means students will have a maximum of two assessment opportunities per standard, per year.
The Rules and Procedures for Further Assessment Opportunities were finalised after nearly two months of consultation, which ended in May. A total of 125 responses from 91 schools were received on draft guidelines, representing the views of around 2000 teachers, with 70 per cent support for limiting reassessment to one opportunity.
Under the rules and procedures:
- A maximum of one further opportunity for assessment of a standard can be provided within a year.
- A further assessment opportunity is only appropriate if additional teaching and learning has taken place since the first assessment opportunity.
- It is not compulsory to offer an opportunity for further assessment, but if it is offered, it must be offered to all students.
- All grades must be available as a result of a further assessment opportunity (i.e. Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit, and Excellence, in the case of achievement standards).
The rules also cover resubmission – where a student can be offered the opportunity to correct a minor error in an assessment but only if they are capable of identifying the error independently. Resubmissions will be limited to one per assessment opportunity.
NZQA Deputy Chief Executive, Bali Haque, said the aim of the rules and procedures was to ensure consistency across schools, while allowing teachers to exercise professional judgment in their assessment practice.
"This is an issue that teachers have asked us to address, and the results of the consultation support the approach proposed."
Click here for a detailed summary of the new rules and procedures.
For more information contact:
Angela Perez
Communications
NZQA
DDI: 04-463-4240
Mobile : 0274-575783
Page updated: 15 July 2009