Hitch-free first year for NCEA examinations

The 2002 examination period was one of the smoothest on record, ending the first year of NCEA on a positive note for the Qualifications Authority.

Over 13 days NZQA provided more than a million papers to over 87,000 NCEA and Bursaries learners in 22,000 separate examination sessions throughout the country.

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"The successful running of the examinations is the result of a lot of attention to detail by schools, exam centre managers, markers, New Zealand Post, our printers and distributors, and staff at the Qualifications Authority," said Karen Van Rooyen.

Secondary Education Group Manager Kate Colbert said there had been also very positive feedback about the examination papers themselves.

"What pleases us most is the student and teacher praise for the content of the papers, which have been described as fair, largely what was expected and demanding high standards. The important thing about any examination is that students get the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge. It seems we have managed that," said Kate Colbert.

Interpreting results

In January NCEA and Bursaries students were able to access their interim result notices via the internet and phone, using PINs they received in December, and also by post. Unit standard results were also posted on the website for a further 20,000 students, mostly year 12 students who were assessed for unit standards alongside Sixth Form Certificate, and tertiary results.

The NZQA results system has performed very well, despite the sheer volume of data involved.

The NCEA interim result notice (see below) illustrates the huge advance NCEA has made compared with previous systems. Instead of a slip of paper showing single grades in a subject, each NCEA student gets a personalised breakdown of their own achievements in every unit and achievement standard they have taken. They can see how well they did in each area of skills and knowledge in a subject, how they fared compared with others across the country, and how they performed over whole subjects.

The NCEA interim result notice gives information about the national cohort and shows individuals how they performed nationally.

For example, there are nine achievement standards in English, as the sample result notice shows. Five were assessed externally in the November examinations and four were assessed internally by the school. (This student also entered two unit standards, for which there were no examinations and no Merit or Excellence grades; for unit standards, students either Achieve or do Not Achieve the standard.)

The credit total (24 in our example) shows how well a student has done across the whole subject group. In most subjects, 24 credits are available but students can aim for as many as they choose. Schools are running a variety of courses, many using fewer than the 24 credits available in a subject.

For NCEA, students enter by achievement standard, not by whole subject. So schools are offering a wide variety of courses, even in common subjects like English and Mathematics.

Merit and Excellence grades

Perhaps the most significant innovation with NCEA is the award of Merit and Excellence grades for each aspect of a subject. Students who exceed the basic (Achieved) standard can receive Merit or Excellence if they meet the more demanding criteria. They still earn the same number of credits, just as a university student can achieve an A or B grade in a paper worth, say, six credits.

Where Merit and Excellence grades make their impact is in the grade average calculated for each student in each subject. NZQA Communication Manager Bill Lennox says this is another approach used in tertiary education.

"You hear university graduates described as 'A minus students' or 'B plus students'. Somehow they have worked out their average grade over a whole degree. For NCEA, we have done this for each subject students enter, regardless of how many achievement standards they enter."

The grade average calculation (which is explained on the NCEA website here) combines the number of credits for each standard with the grade achieved. In the sample, you can see at a glance that this is a better than average student, but not brilliant. They have a mix of Achieved, Merit and Excellence and are on average a Merit level student. This is confirmed by their grade average of 64, shown as just below Merit on a 100-point scale. A student who Achieves the standard in all areas will get a grade average of 50, and the rare student with all Excellences gets a grade average of 100.

Students can calculate grade averages for any combination of standards. For example, they can get their grade average for all their sciences, or all their research standards.

Why these results tell us more

Bill Lennox expects there will be great interest in the national cohort information. The bars that show each student's grade are divided according to how those grades were achieved by all students entering this year. In the sample for Creative writing, more that half the cohort Achieved the standard, and similar proportions gained Merit and Excellence. In Formal writing, however, very few gained Excellence, similar proportions got Merit and Achieved, and about a quarter failed altogether (NA).

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"For NCEA, the teaching profession has set national standards in each aspect of each subject. There is no predetermined distribution of grades. If we get more Merits and Excellences in Formal writing than in Creative writing, it's because this year's batch of students were better at Formal writing. If we have more Excellences in a subject in 2005 than we have now, it's because that cohort of students was better than this year's. This cohort information tracks national progress, as well as showing individual students how they stack up nationally."

NCEA level 2 in 2003

In 2003 14 schools are offering transitional Sixth Form Certificate to year 12 students in all subjects. About 76% of schools are offering NCEA level 2 in all subjects and a further 20% are offering NCEA in some subjects.

Acting Chief Executive Karen Van Rooyen said that schools' decisions about what to offer year 12s in 2003 were shaped by a number of factors.

"Schools have to look ahead to 2004 when Bursaries will be replaced by NCEA level 3. They need to provide continuity for students and be sure that teachers will be ready for the full transition by 2004. Many that are offering a mix of NCEA level 2 and transitional Sixth Form Certificate were looking at the available staffing in various subjects.

"But we have many reports of schools simply saying that this year has shown that learning towards NCEA is good for students. There are clear signs that schools and teachers have come to grips with NCEA assessments very effectively in 2002 and are approaching level 2 with confidence," said Karen Van Rooyen.