NATIONAL STANDARDS DEBATE– an opinion (acknowledgement of input from Kelvin Squire, Principal, Stratford Primary School)
Earlier this year the government rushed through under urgency changes to the Education Act to enable National Standards and "Plain English" reports to be implemented as from the beginning of the 2010 school year. Our children are at the centre of this initiative so I would strongly encourage all parties to get actively involved and have your say. Consultation by the MOE began with parents on May 18 with 42 school-hosted meetings being held around the country; the Horowhenua was ignored but a meeting for parents and educators has been organised tomorrow night, Wednesday 17th June, 7-8pm at Waiopehu College.
The Ministry of Education wants to find out the most helpful ways to report to parents and how you think you can be supported to be involved in your child's learning.
The aim of the National Standards is to lift achievement in reading, writing and maths by being clear about what students should achieve and by when, and by reporting to parents in plain language. Unashamedly the standards are designed to lift student achievement particularly for those groups identified in our nationally identified "long tail" i.e. maori and pasifika peoples. The standards are focused on lifting achievement in Reading, Writing and Mathematics – the 3 R's. At Levin Intermediate we have identified these as our Core Skills; they are hugely important however so are The Arts, Science, Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education.
In my view it will not be "a standard" that will lift levels of achievement. Quality teaching, effective feedback to the learner, adequate resourcing, emotional stability and parent engagement will. There are many examples of politically driven ideologies to raise standards that have simply not worked. At Levin Intermediate we support:
1. Standards that reflect "rich" assessment which allows teachers to use their professional judgment; and
2. Feedback which helps all in the learning triangle (parents, children, teachers) to clearly identify next steps learning goals; and
3. A reporting process to parents that clearly identifies where children are at in relation to their ability and year level; and
4. Being accountable to our learning community by ensuring they are up to date with our both our strengths and weaknesses.
We will strongly oppose:
1. "High stakes" testing where a child's success or failure is judged by the test result; and
2. Tests that label children as young as 5 years as failures.
3. A process that ranks children rather than recognizing the individual progress they have made.
Have your say by visiting the Ministry of Education website, www.minedu.govt.nz – view the reporting examples and provide your feedback by completing the online feedback form or download a copy to complete and return by post.
All feedback is due by 5pm, Friday 3 July 2009.
Trevor Jeffries, Principal