Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

3 September 2013

Public Achievement Information to support your child’s education

Education Minister Hekia Parata today released information providing a clear picture of how all parts of the pre-school and school system are performing and supporting each other at a local level.

“We recognise for all parents their children’s success at school is a high priority. The information being released allows parents and communities to have a fuller picture of how their children are doing at school. It gives them valuable data to help them get behind their schools to help children to reach their educational potential,” says Ms Parata.

The information released includes a new ‘Know Your Region’ section of the Ministry’s Education Counts website. It includes demographic and education data available by regional council and territorial authority. There are 84 territorial authority infographics, which provide snapshots of key statistics from early childhood education (ECE), through to 18 years of age for the locality.

Individual school information – including student achievement and financial information – has also been released alongside aggregated National Standards and Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori data for each territorial authority.

“This is a good starting point, from which we can all take action to support our children’s education. We will continue to refine the data each year, but the patterns the data show now make it clear where we need to better target our resources, and provide greater practical support.

“The overall picture is that the system serves most of our students well and that things are improving. But behind that another picture comes into sharper focus – one of significant differences in outcomes between groups.

“Achievement rates among Maori and Pasifika students are lower at all levels of education. There are also important differences in achievement for boys and girls.

“This information empowers us all to take action on specific areas at the local level – where the greatest change is possible – and get more involved and engaged to help support our children’s’ teachers,” Ms Parata says.

“This Government has an unrelenting focus on raising achievement for all children. Education contributes to New Zealand’s productivity, and social and cultural wellbeing, as well as supporting children to reach their potential.”

Ms Parata says the latest National Standards School Sample Monitoring and Evaluation report, also released today, shows the progress made in implementing National Standards since 2010.

“Overall the report indicates there has been good progress with many core aspects of the implementation of the standards. More teachers are using current assessment information to make judgements about students’ learning, and school-wide moderation practices are becoming more common. Both these changes should improve the implementation of National Standards in the future.

“However, the report’s findings also show where we need to do more work. This includes supporting schools to better report to parents, and supporting teachers to better use the standards,” says Ms Parata.

“All of this data has allowed us to get a clearer picture of our education system and see where we can better target resources. While on average 4 out of 5 children are getting the qualifications they need, we want all children to succeed. That’s 5 out of 5.”

The Ministry of Education is progressively uploading the new data on its website as from today: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/know-your-region

ENDS

© Scoop Media