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NMSSAThe National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) is designed to assess student achievement across the New Zealand curriculum (NZC) at Years 4 and 8 in English-medium state and state-integrated schools. The study is organised in five–year cycles. The first cycle ran from 2012 to 2016. Science was last assessed in 2012.
The NMSSA science studyIn 2017, we assessed science using nationally representative samples of about 2,300 students from 100 schools at each of Year 4 and Year 8. Up to 25 students in each school took part in an assessment called the Science Capabilities assessment.
Scores on the assessment were located on the Science Capabilities (SC) measurement scale (see graph at top right). Common items used in 2012 and 2017 allowed score comparisons to be made across the cycles of assessment.
Contextual information about teaching and learning in science was gathered from students, teachers and principals using a set of questionnaires.
Key achievement findingsIn 2017 Most students (94 percent) in Year 4 were achieving at or above curriculum expectations
(developed level 1 and 2), while in Year 8 a minority (20 percent) were achieving at or above curriculum expectations (developed level 3 and 4)1 .
The difference in average scores between Year 4 and Year 8 indicates that students made about 8 SC units of ‘progress’ per year between Year 4 and Year 8.
Girls scored higher, on average, than boys by 4 SC units at both year levels.
Non-Māori students scored higher, on average, than Māori students by 12 SC units at both year levels.
Non-Pacific students scored higher, on average, than Pacific by 18 SC units at Year 4 and 14 SC units at Year 8.
At both year levels, students from high decile schools2 scored higher, on average, than those from mid decile schools, who, in turn, scored higher than those from low decile schools. At Year 4, the difference between the average scores for students in the high and low decile bands was 23 SC units. At Year 8, it was 20 SC units.
Changes between 2012 and 2017 Differences in the overall average scores for Year 4 and Year 8 students between 2012 and
2017 were not statistically significant.
Statistically significant increases in average achievement scores were recorded for several population subgroups including: Year 4 Asian students, Year 8 girls, Year 8 Māori students, Year 8 Pacific students, and Year 4 and Year 8 students in low decile schools.
1 In the New Zealand Curriculum, achievement objectives for science are the same for levels 1 and 2 and almost the same for levels 3 and 4. To differentiate between different levels of performance at levels 1 and 2, and levels 3 and 4, a curriculum alignment exercise in 2012 defined an ‘emerging’ and ‘developed’ expectation for the achievement objectives contained in each pair of levels.2 The ‘low’ decile band comprised students in decile 1 to decile 3 schools, the ‘mid’ decile band, students in decile 4 to 7 schools and the ‘high’ decile band, students in decile 8 to decile 10 schools.
Summary of results from the 2017 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement for teachers and principals
Achievement in science
NMSSA
2017
2017 score distribution for Year 4 and Year 8 students on the
Science Capabilities (SC) scale
Change in average scores for Year 4 and Year 8 students on the Science
Capabilities scale between 2012 and 2017
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Scal
e sc
ore
(SC)
EmergingLevel 1 & 2
DevelopedLevel 1 & 2
EmergingLevel 3 & 4
DevelopedLevel 3 & 4
Year 4 Year 8
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60
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Scal
e sc
ore
(SC)
EmergingLevel 1 & 2
DevelopedLevel 1 & 2
EmergingLevel 3 & 4
DevelopedLevel 3 & 4
Year 4 Year 8
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Scal
e sc
ore
(SC)
EmergingLevel 1 & 2
DevelopedLevel 1 & 2
EmergingLevel 3 & 4
DevelopedLevel 3 & 4
Year 4 Year 8
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Scal
e sc
ore
(SC)
EmergingLevel 1 & 2
DevelopedLevel 1 & 2
EmergingLevel 3 & 4
DevelopedLevel 3 & 4
Year 4 Year 8
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Scal
e sc
ore
(SC)
EmergingLevel 1 & 2
DevelopedLevel 1 & 2
EmergingLevel 3 & 4
DevelopedLevel 3 & 4
Year 4 Year 8
2012 2017
Scal
e sc
ore
(SC
units
)
20
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180Year 4Year 8
W ā n a n g a t i a t e P u t a n g a T a u r i a
Contextual findings: Learning and teaching in science
Further reporting on science, including a report written specifically for teachers and curriculum leaders can be found at http://nmssa.otago.ac.nz. National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement, Educational Assessment Research Unit, University of Otago, Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand email: [email protected] • tel: 0800 808 561 • fax: 03 479 7550
Students’ attitude to science and confidence in science• Moststudentswerepositiveaboutlearningscienceatschoolandexpressedconfidenceassciencelearners.
Distribution of scores for Year 4 and Year 8 students on the Attitude to Science scale
Distribution of scores for Year 4 and Year 8 students on the Confidence in Science scale
Students’ perceptions of the difficulty of their science learning •Moststudentsratedthedifficultyoftheirsciencelearning
as ‘about right for me’.
Year 4 and Year 8 students’ responses about the difficulty of their science programme
Opportunities to learn science at schoolStudents were given a list of learning opportunities in science and asked whether they did each one ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, ‘very often’ or ‘never’.
Percentage of Year 4 and Year 8 students reporting that learning opportunities in science happened at least sometimes
Learning opportunity Year 4 %
Year 8 %
Do science investigations about something the teacher has chosen 85 81
Ask questions about science things that I am curious about 85 82
Find information by myself about science 85 81
Go on trips outside of school to learn more about a science topic 81 65
Share things I have learned about science with others 78 77
Do science investigations 72 71
Study topics that are connected to my family or whānau 70 64
Have experts or visitors come to the classroom to explain science ideas 68 52
Talk with my teacher about my learning in science 68 67
Enter science competitions or fairs 41 43
Distribution of scores for Year 4 and Year 8 teachers on the Confidence in Teaching Science scale
Teachers’ and principals’ perspectives on science•Mostteachersindicatedthattheyenjoyedteachingscienceand
were confident about teaching it.
• AgreaterpercentageofYear8teachersthanYear4teachersindicated that they had a qualification related to science.
•Overall,themajorityofteachersindicatedthattheyhadadequateaccess to a range of resources for teaching science. However, 30 to 40 percent of teachers at both year levels did not agree that they had access to suitable spaces to teach science or appropriate teaching materials.
• Teachersgenerallyreportedinfrequentopportunitiesforprofessional interactions with colleagues about teaching science.
• AtYear8,67percentofprincipalsratedtheirschool’soverallprovision in science as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ compared with 46 percent of those at Year 4.
• FiftypercentofprincipalsatYear4and40percentatYear8indicated that teachers in their school had little or no access to external professional learning and development in science.
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Scal
e sc
ore
(Att
itude
to S
cien
ce)
Not positive
Positive
Very positive
Year 4 Year 8
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Scal
e sc
ore
(Con
�den
ce in
Sci
ence
)
Not con�dent
Con�dent
Very con�dent
Year 4 Year 8
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20
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Too
easy
Abo
ut ri
ght f
or m
e
Too
hard
Too
easy
Abo
ut ri
ght f
or m
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Too
hard
Year 4 Year 8
%
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Scal
e sc
ore
(Con
�den
ce in
Tea
chin
g Sc
ienc
e)
Not con�dent
Con�dent
Very con�dent
Year 4 Year 8
