Hipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 03 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4254. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to the Minister of Education: Does she stand by her statement that national standards data has been “remarkably consistent”; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Yes. The picture of achievement in reading writing and mathematics that national standards presents has been remarkably consistent since public reporting began in 2012. The information collected through national standards is highly comparable with other domestic and international studies. Prior to the introduction of national standards there was no systematic collection of information on student achievement from years 1 to 8 to make sure that those kids who need the support get it. Many many teachers today are more confident in using data and are relying on it to identify and grow achievement for their students. I see this as I go around the country—as recently as Friday at Whakatane Intermediate School which I visited with the outstanding local MP the Hon Anne Tolley. We saw highly competent really engaged very inquiring teachers developing data maps of the specific learning needs of individual students and then sharing them with those students so that they too could be excited and track their own progress. So yes—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer is long enough.Chris Hipkins: Why does she continue to claim that national standards provide in any way an accurate picture of student achievement when the latest study by the Ministry of Education of 15838 children at 100 schools found that 60 percent of the national standards results were wrong?Hon HEKIA PARATA: As usual Mr Hipkins is quoting selectively out of a really big context. First of all that report was indeed commissioned by the Ministry of Education. We were so interested in seeing where we needed to improve in the implementation of national standards that when this was commissioned for 3 years we extended it by 2 years. Why is the member continuing to attack teachers who are themselves trying their very best to improve the consistency of their overall teacher judgments? National standards now give them a very clear and very consistent way of measuring these against the New Zealand curriculum.Chris Hipkins: What evidence does she have to support the claim that she just made that national standards data is getting more accurate given a September 2013 report found that they had incorrectly measured achievement of four out of 10 students and the latest report suggests that they are now incorrectly measuring the achievement of six out of 10 students—in other words it is getting worse?Hon HEKIA PARATA: In the report that the member is referring to it actually said that 90 percent of principals were confident that their teachers were making good use of national standards. In the same report Mr Hipkins and in the New Zealand Council for Educational Research of 2013 it said that 70 percent of teachers were becoming more confident about their own assessments. If the member wants even more numbers the reason why I am confident is that about 30000 teachers are making independent judgments of 400000 kids in 2100 schools. The difference at the macro level is about 1 percent or 2 percent. That is how I know; it is because I trust the teachers’ judgments.Chris Hipkins: How can parents have confidence in the accuracy of national standards when the Ministry of Education’s analysis of 352 children who were judged to have met the maths standard for their age showed that only 28 percent—less than a third of them—had actually met the standard?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Under national standards it is the first time that parents have had reporting to them twice a year in language—Chris Hipkins: It is wrong.Hon HEKIA PARATA: No. The alacrity with which the member jumps on the potential of failure is really really depressing because actually what this showed was how committed the Ministry of Education and the education sector are to getting this right to finding where it is not working and to working with the teachers to get it right to ensure that parents do understand exactly how well their individual child is doing.Chris Hipkins: What action has she taken to address the finding of the latest report that there is growing concern amongst principals that the standards will have unintended consequences such as narrowing what is taught creating league tables of school results and demotivating the very children whom they are supposed to be targeting?Hon HEKIA PARATA: The member is so out of date. It is really rather sad that he is quoting things that are really out of date. What action have I taken? What action have I taken? Let me count the ways: the 78 moderation workshops for teachers last year and the 128 workshops this year; the design and development with the sector of the progression and consistency tool which is an online tool that works on the curriculum with national standards; the learning and change networks which are focused on a particular achievement challenge; and the Investing in Educational Success policy that this Government introduced last year for $359 million in order to form an end-to-end pathway for kids from early childhood to senior secondary. We have been a Government that is absolutely putting its money where its mouth is and we are seeing the results both in national standards and at the National Certificate of Educational Achievement level. Sorry to bore you with success.Chris Hipkins: If national standards were supposed to improve children’s learning why 5 years after they were implemented does an independently audited national monitoring study show that less than half of year 8 children were performing at or above level 4 of the maths curriculum—the level they are expected to be performing at?Hon HEKIA PARATA: It is inappropriate to blame the measuring system for what it found. What it has found is that we have particular challenges.Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon HEKIA PARATA: The members may well laugh but we are interested in understanding where exactly kids are in their learning and what we need to do about it to help them to do better and in then doing it. That is what national standards do and every review of parents says that they welcome them. There have been reports subsequent to the 2013 one that the member is basing his comments on.Chris Hipkins: Why does she continue to use national standards data to claim that the Government’s education policies are working when the Ministry of Education’s own evaluation has found that increases in the percentage of children at or above the standards should not be read as indicating that children are performing better over time?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Because the system was relatively new when that report was written. We have been publicly reporting in 2012 2013 and 2014only. We are working with the sector to get better at this and that has been the case with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement.Chris Hipkins: It’s getting worse.Hon HEKIA PARATA: It is not getting worse. I understand that the member hopes that it is in the absence of his being confident about kids but the fact of the matter is that all around the country schools are using national standards and they are getting better and they are getting more confident in using data—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Question No.8 Denis O’Rourke.