NCEAA Beginners Guide

Chris Archer, National Facilitator - Secondary Music

Some material adapted from Kay Hawk’s keynote address given at the National Secondary SchoolsQualifications Conference at Massey University, 19/20 July 2004.

Our national schools’ qualification

Standards-based assessment

NCEA is:

Fully implemented

Not yet fully reviewed and revised

One part of the national assessment strategy

Little cohesion between Yrs 11 - 13

Why the Change to NCEA?

Dual assessment system

Ranked percentage marks did not describe full scope of student performance

Built in failure - norm referenced

Small pool of national assessors

Low levels of student engagement in assessment dialogue

Formal examinations place students in unfamiliar assessment environments

Why the Change to NCEA?

More detailed information needed by employers

National curriculum statements not reflected in examination prescriptions or qualifications

Need for flexible course design and delivery to meet needs of students

Recognise and value teachers’ professionalism - planning and assessing

Unit standards - perceived lack of credibility

Summary:

Need for a unified qualification systemfor secondary schools -

eliminate divide between examination awards and NQF qualifications

ensure both externally and internally assessed achievements are reported

Need to:

cater for increasing diversity of community/economy needs in terms of qualifications

ensure as many students as possible have access to credible, usable qualifications

What are the mechanics of NCEA?

Standards based assessment

Three levels

Achievement and Unit Standards

New exchange system - credits from internal and external assessment

80 credits per level gains certificate - 60 credits at level of certificate

Maximum 24 credits available per subject per level

Each student receives ROL in Jan

The Structure of a Standard

Subject Reference Music 1.1

Title Perform contrasting music as a featured soloist

Level 1 Credits 6 Assessment Internal

Subfield Music

Domain Making Music

Registration Date 7 Nov 2003

This achievement standard involves the performance of contrastingmusic by a featured soloist. The performer may be an unaccompaniedor accompanied soloist, or in a small group.

Achievement Criteria

Achievement Merit Excellence

Perform generally accurate contrasting music, demonstrating some technical skills, appropriate musicianship and presentation skills.

Perform fluent and mostly accurate contrasting music, demonstrating a range of technical skills, effective musicianship and presentation skills.

Confidently perform fluent and highly accurate contrasting music, demonstrating a secure technical skills, convincing musicianship and communication skills.

Explanatory Notes . . .

Quality Assurance . . .

Internal vs External

Internal Assessment

20% of internal standards in each subject area are externally moderated

Schools have internal moderation systems in place - quality assurance

A range of evidence can be gathered

Students can be re-assessed

Teachers create assessment activities or adapt MOE activities

Teachers as assessors

Internal vs External

External Assessment

Variety of assessment procedures - portfolio submissions - end of year written examinations

Assessed by external markers NB: L1 and 2 Vis Arts have external verification system

rigorous process in place for development of external exams

MOE vs NZQA

MOE responsible for:

The achievement standards

Teacher PD

Resource development

Standards review

NZQA responsible for:

Registration of standards on NQF

External assessment

External moderation

Quality assurance

Assessment of learning (summative)

and

Assessment practices underpinning NCEA:

Assessment for learning (formative)

Methods must be:

Assessment of Learning

Appropriate

Fair

Integrated with work or learning

Manageable

Is the process of seeking and

interpreting evidence for use by

learners and their teachers to

decide where they need to go and

how best to get there.

Assessment for Learning

Is assessment practice that sets

students up with the tools they

need to succeed rather than

trying to catch them out on what

they don’t know.

Assessment for Learning

Providing planning and assessment information early

Having clear learning outcomes

Making the relevance of these clear

Ensuring the assessment tasks are appropriate

Providing students with choices about content, context and how achievement is demonstrated

Assessment for Learning

Includes:

Having full and clear criteria students can understand

Using exemplars with the criteria

Teaching students to self-assess

Encouraging peer discussion (using criteria) but not evaluation

Assessment for Learning

Includes:

The invalid use of league tables to compare schools

Some issues are not new

The abuse by some schools of national systems and of students

Problems with some exam papers

e.g.

Some students will take two years to achieve Level One (School Certificate)

Curriculum experts to decide what standards and what constitutes them

NCEA has challenged:

Reference to the curriculum levels

What evidence schools need to keep

The PPTA Principals’ Council

SPANZ

Endorsement of NCEA:

The Universities

ATOL facilitators in secondary schools

ERO (onsite: N=25 schools; surveys: N=125 schools)

NZCER “Learning Curves” second report (2004)

Individual writers/journalists

Metro

Critics of NCEA:

North and South

Some boys’ schools

Some independent and high decile schools

Warwick Elley

totalitarianabysmal

Critics have strong feelings:

cut-throat backstabbing

smashedbizarre

brain deathdisaster

devastatedcounterfeit

nightmare

faddish theory

Inaccurate

Misleading

Some criticisms are:

Possible in theory but not a reality

Based on concepts of learning that have little support

Irrelevant to assessment

Apply to all types of assessment

We are over-assessing

Some schools are not using the flexibility this system allows

Problems that can be fixed:

The number of credits has been overemphasised

Parents and many contributing school teachers are not well informed

We need to know what employers really think

Some moderation issues

The perceived inequality of unit and achievement standards

Student achievement data are being used to inform decisions

An increase in confidence to make professional judgements

Observations in the field:

There is some shift towards a wider range of assessment tasks

Poor practice is being shown up

Students can see progress more easily

Some students are having achievement acknowledged for

the first time

There is more clarity about learning outcomes

Students are better informed about assessments and feel more ownership of the process

Observations in the field:

Formative assessment practices have increased

Programmes designed to meet student needs, interest and motivation

Consideration given to student pathways - learning for life!

Clearer learning outcomes for Yr 9 and 10 and focused planning

Observations in the field:

Effective networking and peer support

Dissemination of information is greatly improved

Brought secondary assessment practice closer to that of the contributing schools

NCEA (more than any other initiative) has:

Ensured all teachers are refreshed in their curriculum knowledge and assessment practice

Provided detailed data for each subject area to make informed teaching decisions

Resulted in more formative practice and less ‘testing’

Involved students activity in their own learning and assessment

NCEA (more than any other initiative) has:

Resulted in teachers working together more and in departments/ faculties being more organised

Forced schools to set up sound systems and monitor them

Provided for different student learning styles and needs

The NCEA is not:

internationally recognised and respected for its ability to equally recognise and value all learning, whether leading toward vocational or tertiary focused pathways or a combination of both.

now has a bi-culturally developed national qualifications system, where indigenous knowledge and skills, te reo Maori, &Maori learning contexts hold equal validity and value to all other learning and learning contexts. Many nations are understandablyenvious of such an outcome.

A nasty four letter word!

The NCEA is: