The terrible maths and writing achievement data
I’ve been going through the latest achievement data for year 8 students in maths and writing. While it has stabilised, it still shows how badly change is needed. Here’s the data for year 8 students.
| Maths | At level | More than a year behind |
| All | 23% | 62% |
| Girls | 17% | 68% |
| Boys | 28% | 57% |
| Maori | 10% | 78% |
| Pacific | 25% | 59% |
| Low socio-economic | 8% | 81% |
| Moderate socio-economic | 18% | 67% |
| High socio-economic | 36% | 45% |
So as they finish primary and intermediate schools, only 1 in 4 students are at the level expected for maths. Shockingly 3 in 5 are more than a year behind.
For students at schools in low socio-economic areas only 1 in 12 are at the expected level in maths and 4 in 5 are more than a year behind.
However that doesn’t mean all is okay at the wealthier area schools. Only 1 in 3 of their students are at the level and almost 1 in 2 are a year behind.
Writing is little better.
| Writing | At level | More than a year behind |
| All | 24% | 61% |
| Girls | 31% | 52% |
| Boys | 17% | 69% |
| Maori | 14% | 74% |
| Pacific | 24% | 61% |
| Low socio-economic | 21% | 69% |
| Moderate socio-economic | 19% | 66% |
| High socio-economic | 32% | 49% |
Overall 1 in 4 at the level and 3 in 5 more than a year behind.
Of some interest is there is little difference between students at low and moderate socio-economic schools. There is an improvement in high areas, but still poor with 1 in 3 at the level and 1 in 2 more than a year behind.
Erica Stanford has announced:
“From Term 1 next year, a new Writing Acceleration Tool will be available to support 120,000 Years 6–8 students who are below expected writing levels and won’t have the benefit of structured literacy from Year 1. Teachers will be supported to deliver explicit teaching and will be able to monitor student progress in real time, adjusting how their teaching based on individual needs and responses to intervention.
“Every Intermediate and Secondary School will be funded to train their own structured literacy intervention teacher. This training will be tailored for older students and extends what is already available for those teaching in Years 0-6. As requested by the sector, teachers will gain the skills needed to work with small groups of students who need targeted support, using structured, evidence-based approaches.
Great to see the Minister focused on listing achievements while so many on the left are obsessed with trivia such as removing some te reo words from a few books designed to teach English.