Project success celebrated at NZQA

The NCEA Improvements Programme project team celebrated two milestones early last month, the completion of its first project and the recruitment of the majority of 36 new moderators.

The Improvements Programme comprises 11 separate projects arising from Cabinet decisions in May this year. Project Manager Caroline Donovan says the achievements were a big step in the programme.

The first to be completed was the Managing National Assessment Reports (MNA) project. MNA reports provide valuable information for parents and students about the ability of schools to assess against national standards.

The project aims to provide greater transparency around assessment practices within schools by publishing these reports on NZQA’s website.

By early November 411 of a target 420 reports were published, with the remainder of the more recent reports added in the past few weeks.

The second project was the recruitment of 33 full-time equivalent moderator positions, to be filled by 36 people.

By mid-November, 31 acceptances had been received from 32 offers made. The remaining four positions have been re-advertised, some part-time.

The moderators’ recruitment project is in partnership with the Ministry of Education who are assisting with the funding of the new moderation system.

The moderator’s role is the moderation of standards in internal assessment and also involves a range of tasks contributing to the professional development of teachers. This includes contributing to the development of exemplars for internal assessment for the Ministry of Education.

Planning is underway for a four-day, conference-style induction for the moderators to be held in Wellington at the end of January 2008.