| NCEA-related Terms |
| Achievement standards |
national standards, that can be graded achieved, merit, excellence, and the method of assessment (internal or
external). |
| Candidate |
a student with one or more NQF-related results (Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit, Excellence, This is distinct from 'students' in these Profiles |
| Credit |
a numerical value awarded to a candidate who has achieved the set standard. Qualifications
are awarded on the basis of credits accumulated. |
| Decile band |
decile is a rating allocated to schools for funding purposes, based on
a range of socio-economic factors (for more information about deciles, go
to the Ministry of Education website). For the purpose of the profiles,
decile ratings are also grouped into 'bands', ie 1-3, 4-7, 8-10. This enables
users of the Profiles to compare a school's student performance with other
schools of a similar decile. |
| Domain |
an area of learning within a sub-field of the National Qualifications
Framework, as defined in the National Qualifications Framework classification
system. In curriculum-related learning areas, a domain is often similar
to a 'subject'. The number of domains being used by schools is a good indicator
of the increasing variety and relevance of programmes they offer. |
| Fifth year (of secondary education) |
in general, students in year 13. |
| Fourth year (of secondary education) |
in general, students in year 12. |
| Level |
there are ten levels on the National Qualifications Framework, level
one being entry level. The level of each standard is set nationally according
to general guidelines. NCEA qualifications are registered at level 1,
2 and 3. |
| Literacy requirement |
of the 80 credits required for the NCEA level 1 qualification, eight must
show that candidates have met the literacy requirement, ie they must be
gained by achieving specified standards in English or te reo Māori at level
1 or above. (There are no literacy requirements for the level 2 and 3 NCEA
qualifications.) |
| National Qualifications Framework (NQF) |
collectively, all nationally registered qualifications, unit standards
and achievement standards, together with the relationships among these.
The three NCEA qualifications are registered on the NQF. Students at school
can also gain credits for specialist qualifications on the NQF. |
| NCEA |
National Certificate of Educational Achievement, the main national secondary
school qualification. The three NCEA qualifications are at levels 1, 2 and
3 of the National Qualifications Framweork. |
| Numeracy requirement |
of the 80 credits required for NCEA level 1, eight must show that candidates
have met the numeracy requirement, ie they must be gained by achieving specified
standards in Mathematic or Pangarau at level 1 or above. (There are no
numeracy requirements for the level 2 and 3 NCEA qualifications.) |
| Results |
A 'result' is counted where a standard gains credit or is assessed as ‘not achieved’. Note the ‘not achieved’ results are not received for internally assessed standards. |
| Roll |
refers collectively to number of students attending (ie enrolled at) a
school. For consistency, the school roll at 1 July (as reported to
the Ministry of Education) is used. School rolls will fluctuate during the
year and in the case of schools with small rolls, some of the statistics
in the Profile may be distorted if there has been substantial increase or
decrease in the number of students between 1 July and the time that the
students are assessed. |
| School |
all students in the senior school are included in the school profile statistics,
unless otherwise stated. |
| Student |
someone enrolled at a school, as distinct from candidates. Most figures
in Profiles relate to numbers of students, not number of candidates. |
| Third year (of secondary education) |
in general, students in year 11. (Students in years 10 and below are grouped together for reporting purposes.) |
| Unit standards |
internally assessed national standard that specifies successful candidate
performance (achieved). |
| Statistical Terms |
|
Mean |
the value obtained by dividing the sum of a set of quantities by the number of quantities in the set. The mean is also called the arithmetic mean, or more commonly, the "average".
To calculate the mean, add up all the terms, and then divide by the number of terms in the distribution.
Example:
Data = [5, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6]
Mean = (5 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 8 + 6 )/ 6 = 4.67 |
| Median |
A number dividing the higher half of a sample from the lower half.
To find the median, pick the the middle value from an ordered list. If there are an even number of observations, take the mean (see above) of the two middle values. |
| Mode |
The most frequent score in a set of scores |
Range
|
The difference or interval between the smallest and largest values in a frequency distribution.
It is calculated by subtracting the smallest observation from the greatest and provides an indication of statistical dispersion. |
| Standard Deviation |
The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spread out the data is. Suppose the data follows the classic bell shaped curve pattern. One conceptual way to think about the standard deviation is that it is a measure of how spread out the bell is. |
