UNDERSTANDING NCEAUNDERSTANDING NCEA(National Certificate of Educational Achievement)(National Certificate of Educational Achievement)

Evaluating Student Performance.

There are only two ways to evaluate studentperformance.

1)Most parents / caregivers will be familiar with thenorm referenced examinations (School Certificate /Sixth Form Certificate / University Bursary /Scholarship) which compared the performance ofa student to another student or the average of agroup of students.

Norm Referenced:

Each examination was marked out of 100%

NCEA is a standards based assessment regime.

2)Standards based assessment is the frameworkthat supports NCEA (Levels 1, 2 & 3 as well asScholarship, which compares the performance ofthe student to an objective standard.

NCEA is made up of both external and internalassessments aimed at assessing students against aspecified standard of knowledge or performance.

Norm References Vs Standards Based

Norm referenced is still used when we want to see ifone person or team is better than another e.g. golf,sailing, cricket, netball etc.

However we would gain scant comfort if our airlinepilot announced, “Ladies and gentlemen I am proudto announce that my score on the aviation examwas better than my competitors, though I am still notquite sure how to land this airplane.”

Norm References Vs Standards Based

In matters of safety, it is best that we compare thepilot, not to their ability as compared to other pilots, butinstead, their ability as compared to objectivestandards, i.e. we would require an equal number oftake-offs and landings.

On matters that are deadly serious we should baseour comparisons on standards. In matters of lessimportance, e.g. games, we should use comparativemeasurements.

What is NCEA?

The National Certificate of Educational Achievementuses the standards based approach to gauge astudents’ academic performance and has beendesigned to show:

what a student is able to achieve based on aspecified standard.

NCEA was not designed to produce a ranking ofstudents from best to worst (although it can do so).

Standards Based Assessments: What is a standard?

A standard is the measureof “ what a student shouldknow / understand / beable to do”.

What is a standard?

Each standard has a defined credit value (eg. A.S. 1.1 isworth 3 credits) and subjects will offer between 18 and 30credits per subject. Each subject at Level 1 will offer amaximum of 3 external standards with the balance of creditsbeing offered internally.

External = end of year exam; Internal = assessed in school.

Types of Standards: Achievement Standards

Achievement standards have been developedaround mainstream academic subjects.

Achievement standards are graded achieved,achieved with merit or achieved with excellence

If you do not achieve the required standard you geta not achieved grade

Types of Standards: Unit Standards

Unit standards have been developed to showcompetency in skills or industry based subjects.

For unit standards, you can either gain an achievedor not achieved.

How does NCEA work?

To complete an NCEA qualification, students mustearn credits, by meeting standards in their chosensubject areas.

A total of 80 credits will be needed to gain a Level 1NCEA certificate (a typical Year 11 course would offerat least 120 credits).

In order to gain an NCEA qualification:

Students must gain…

80 credits to be awarded NCEA at Level 1, 2 or 3

Our college supports the belief that 80 credits is theminimum number of credits that a student must gain. Astudent should aim to pass all of the standardsthat they have been enrolled in.

In order to gain an NCEA Level 1qualification:Literacy & Numeracy

Students must gain either…

10 Literacy and 10 Numeracy unit standard creditspitched at curriculum level 3 / 4 or…

10 Literacy and 10 Numeracy specified curriculumachievement standards pitched at Level 6 of theNew Zealand curriculum.

In order to gain an NCEA L2 / L3 qualification:

Students must gain…

at least 60 credits at Level 2 credits and 60 creditsat Level 3 (20 credits can be carried over from theirprevious year of study).

Qualifications needed to enter a NZ university

Students must gain…

a minimum of 42 credits at Level 3

including a minimum of 14 credits at Level 3 in atleast two subjects from an “approved” list

an additional 14 credits at Level 3 from one or twoadditional domains on the National QualificationsFramework.

Qualifications needed to enter a NZ university (2014)Students must gain…

a minimum of 42 credits at Level 3 from a list ofapproved subjects

Achieve UE numeracy - 10 credits at Level 1 andabove from specific achievement standards, or threespecific numeracy unit standards

Achieve UE literacy - 10 credits (five in reading andfive in writing) at level 2 and above from specificstandards.

Qualifications needed to enter a NZ university(currently under review by NZQA) a minimum of 14 numeracy credits at Level 1 NCEA or

higher in mathematics

a minimum of 8 literacy credits at Level 2 NCEA orhigher in English or Te Reo - 4 credits must be inReading and 4 credits in Writing form an approved list.

Details of these requirements are spelt out in theSenior Pathways booklet (Term 3) and onwww.nzqa.govt.nz

Endorsements

As an aid to increase student motivation, students who gain 50credits at Merit level (at either Level 1, 2 or 3) will receive a Meritendorsement certificate.

Students who gain 50 credits at Excellence level (at either Level1, 2 or 3) will gain an Excellence certificate.

Students can also gain a Merit or Excellence endorsement for aCourse (subject) - this will require them to gain at least 14 creditsat a Merit or Excellence level (which must include at least 3credits in an externally or internally assessed paper).

Career Pathways

As with any assessment system, it is important thatstudents carefully consider those subjects thatwould be of use in their future career path.

Students also need to be mindful of the pre-requisites that will allow them to get into thesubjects of their choice at the next level of study.

(These pre-requisites will be stated in the SeniorPathways booklet distributed in Term 3.)

Min 80 Credits?

Issue Certificate

All achievementsrecorded onRecord ofLearning

NCEA

Level 1

Results slip issued

NCEA - Student Motivation

NCEA is not a competition with others to be thebest.

NCEA fosters competition against a standard inorder to reach a top level of performance.

At Mount Maunganui College we push the belief of“No Choice But Success” which is the competitionagainst the students’ own level of performance inorder to produce a personally excellent result.

Benefits of NCEA

Knowledge of Progress. Students usually learn better iftheyknow exactly what they are expected to be able todo, and can see how much progress they are makingin working towards that standard.

Competition with Own Past Performance. A secondadvantage for Standards Based Assessment is that thestudent is competing against his/her own pastperformance rather than against other students.Competition with others may be good for the high-flier,but not always for the student who is middle to bottom.

Benefits of NCEA

More Informative. For the student, the goal is clear, andstudents can see when they are have reached, or aregetting close to the standard.

More Informative. Employers will be better placed tomake more informed decisions if they know whichstandards school-leavers have passed / failed, ratherthan if they have gained a C in English and B inAccounting.