All I want for Christmas…

Guess which country sits seventh (out of 64 OECD countries-economies) in the latest PISA results? New Zealand? Yes - our essentially still non-national-standards-based education system continues to produce students whose overall achievement in literacy, mathematics and science sees New Zealand one of eleven systems whose students are performing “significantly above the OECD average”. (ref: http://images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images/news2010/education/oecd_education_report.pdf)

Just what is “PISA”? It’s the OECD Programme (for) International Student Assessment. According to it’s own introduction “PISA focuses on young people’s ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. This orientation reflects a change in the goals and objectives of curricula themselves, which are increasingly concerned with what students can do with what they learn at school and not merely with whether they have mastered specific curricular
content.”

You’d think then that this organization might know what it’s talking about then, wouldn’t you. (see for yourself at www.pisa.oecd.org)

Furthermore, the report released just this week, confirms what the latest New Zealand Principals Federation Flyer (No 29) tells NZPF members: “that countries in which national standards or national testing had been introduced, such as Australia and the UK, had experienced a decline in achievement levels.  The most notable of all is the US which is now struggling to keep above average in the OECD when once it was in the top five countries. New Zealand is performing ahead of all these countries now in maths, literacy and science.”

Of those three countries named by the NZPF, the USA has had standards-based education the longest; Australia the shortest amount of time. While they are still in the top ten; significantly, the evidence clearly points to a decline in student achievement.

Despite even more international evidence to the contrary, our politicians and their hand-picked “advisers” continue to determinedly bulldoze their standards agenda into our schools and onto our kids.

Despite the millions of dollars being poured into the project, more school communities are deciding for themselves that what is being promoted isn’t good for kids. Again from this week’s NZPF Flyer “

The work of BTAC (Boards Taking Action Coalition) continues unabated and the group will  finish the year with more than 300 boards signed up to say they will not be setting targets against National Standards for 2011 because they do not have confidence in them.  We congratulate each and every board for making a decision based on sound judgement, high morals and ethics  and which puts the interests of children and the New Zealand Curriculum first.  You are the people who will be well remembered in the years to come as we look back on this unfortunate phase in our educational history. You are inspirational, exemplary and have set a high standard for others to follow.”

Consequently, in the spirit of the season -

Dear Santa

All we want for Christmas is for some commonsense to be applied to the national standards debate: things like fixing the fundamental flaws within them; proper consultation with the education sector; proper trialling: in short, evidence-based decision-making.

We’d love to be able to stay significantly above the OECD average. The vast majority of us have been really good this year too - we don’t deserve to be punished.

Thank you

NZ kids.