NCEA

1
NCEA A Beginners Guide
Chris Archer, National Facilitator - Secondary
Music Some material adapted from Kay Hawks
keynote address given at the National Secondary
Schools Qualifications Conference at Massey
University, 19/20 July 2004.
2
NCEA is

• Our national schools qualification

• Standards-based assessment

• Fully implemented

• Not yet fully reviewed and revised

• One part of the national assessment strategy

3
Why the Change to NCEA?

• Dual assessment system

• Little cohesion between Yrs 11 - 13

• 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

4
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

5
Summary
Need for a unified qualification system for
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

6
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

7
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 contrasting music by a featured
soloist. The performer may be an unaccompanied or
accompanied soloist, or in a small group.
Achievement Criteria
Explanatory Notes . . . Quality Assurance . . .
8
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

9
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

10
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

11
Assessment practices underpinning NCEA

• Assessment of learning (summative)

and

• Assessment for learning (formative)

12
Assessment of Learning
Methods must be

• Appropriate

• Fair

• Integrated with work or learning

• Manageable

13
Assessment for Learning
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.
14
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 dont know.
15
Assessment for Learning
Includes

• 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

16
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

17
Some issues are not new
e.g.

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

• The invalid use of league tables to compare
  schools

• The abuse by some schools of national systems and
  of students

• Problems with some exam papers

18
NCEA has challenged

• Curriculum experts to decide what standards and
  what constitutes them

• Reference to the curriculum levels

• What evidence schools need to keep

19
Endorsement of NCEA

• The PPTA Principals Council

• SPANZ

• The Universities

• ATOL facilitators in secondary schools

• ERO (onsite N25 schools surveys N125 schools)

• NZCER Learning Curves second report (2004)

20
Critics of NCEA

• Individual writers/journalists

• Metro

• North and South

• Some boys schools

• Some independent and high decile schools

• Warwick Elley

21
Critics have strong feelings
abysmal
totalitarian
cut-throat backstabbing
bizarre
smashed
brain death
disaster
devastated
counterfeit
faddish theory
nightmare
22
Some criticisms are

• Inaccurate

• Misleading

• 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

23
Problems that can be fixed

• We are over-assessing

• Some schools are not using the flexibility this
  system allows

• 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

24
Observations in the field

• Student achievement data are being used to inform
  decisions

• An increase in confidence to make professional
  judgements

• 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

25
Observations in the field

• There is more clarity about learning outcomes

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

• Formative assessment practices have increased

• Programmes designed to meet student needs,
  interest and motivation

• Consideration given to student pathways -
  learning for life!

26
Observations in the field

• Clearer learning outcomes for Yr 9 and 10 and
  focused planning

• Effective networking and peer support

• Dissemination of information is greatly improved

27
NCEA (more than any other initiative) has

• Brought secondary assessment practice closer to
  that of the contributing schools

• 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

28
NCEA (more than any other initiative) has

• Involved students activity in their own learning
  and assessment

• 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

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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 understandably envious of such
an outcome.