Letter to Parents September 16th 2011
Dear Parents
Survey Responses
Firstly, I would like to thank all of those parents who have taken the time to respond to our National Standards survey. We have read every response and the results of the survey have been influential in our decision making.
To summarise the results:
A full summary of the results including all comments made is on the school website
Click here for a pdf download
Click here for web page
2011 Charter
The Board has been in dialogue with the Ministry since late June in regard to the fact we have submitted our 2011 Charter without any reference to National Standards. Instead, we set achievement targets in relation to agreed school benchmarks.
The Ministry appears to have listened to our concerns and has changed its requirements regarding our Charter. Instead of forcing us to set Achievement Targets against National Standards, it is now instructing the Board under Section 61 of the Education Act 1989 to modify and resubmit our Charter containing the following two statements:
1. Waikanae School will collect base-line student achievement data against National Standards for all year levels for Reading, Writing and Mathematics.
2. Waikanae School will continue to build the capacity of its teaching staff to assess achievement in relation to the National Standards.
Neither of these statements requires Waikanae School to send our achievement data in to the Ministry, and consequently neither one is at variance with the Board's current stance on National Standards. After much discussion, the Board resolved on Tuesday 13 September to comply with the Ministry's instructions and include the imposed targets in our 2011 Charter. We fully expect our 2011 Charter to be approved with the inclusion of these two statements. In essence, the new Charter compliance requirements have had the effect of delaying our disagreement with the Ministry over the centralisation of student achievement data until next year.
It is important to note that, had we refused to include these two statements into our Charter, we would have risked Statutory Intervention from the Ministry which could have resulted in the removal of the Board and dismissal of the Principal. Your survey responses clearly stated that you did not want this to happen.
Our Concerns Reiterated
At Waikanae School we are implementing National Standards within our school community in our assessment practices and our reporting mechanisms to parents. However, the Board of Trustees has concerns about National Standards in their current form for the following reasons:
1. The National Standards are not standard. They are broad and imprecise, and every teacher across the country who assesses a child will interpret them differently. Waikanae School teachers have worked hard to moderate their judgements to achieve as much consistency as possible within our school; however this cannot be achieved on a nationwide basis.
2. We are concerned about the requirement to send school data to the Ministry. While National Standards can be usefully implemented within our school community as one of a range of tools with which to assess and report on students' achievement, their inherent subjectivity means that the data becomes unreliable when it is centralised.
3. We believe that the centralisation of schools' achievement data will result in published league tables. These will be based on data which is unreliable and inconsistent across schools.
4. Published league tables can have a range of unintended consequences, including narrowing teachers' focus to the basics of reading, written language, and mathematics. New Zealand's current broad-based curriculum gives all children opportunities for success. A narrowed learning environment will not provide underachieving children with opportunities to succeed or children who achieve highly with opportunities to be stimulated and extended.
Where to from here?
The Board's stance in opposition to the National Standards policy remains, and we will continue to attempt to change the policy with regard to the centralisation of data. It is likely that the next point of conflict between the Board and the Ministry in regard to National Standards will be centred on our Annual Report, due in May 2012. It is in this document that the Ministry of Education will explicitly demand the information that will lead to the centralisation of data and the construction of League Tables.
Summary
In summary, we want to see our school's achievement data used within our school to assure the community and the Board that our children are making progress and achieving well, using a variety of reliable norm referenced assessment tools. We do not see any advantage to our children in sending their achievement data in to the Ministry of Education.
Thank you to all of those parents who have attended meetings and responded to our survey. Your input has been greatly appreciated and very useful in terms of formulating our response. We look forward to your further involvement in April / May 2012.
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Couchman
Chairperson
Waikanae School Board of Trustees
