This article introduces the Research, Analysis and Insight into National Standards
(RAINS) project, a study of how six schools are enacting the National Standards
introduced into New Zealand’s primary and intermediate schools from October 2009.
The article provides some background to the National Standards and the RAINS
research before concentrating on findings from the first year of the study (2011). The
most important of these were that the RAINS schools’ responses to the National
Standards had been largely incremental and strongly influenced and shaped by
school-specific contextual factors. Through brief accounts of each of the six schools,
the article illustrates how crucial it is to take into account the contextual features of
schools in order to begin to make sense of the range of responses they have had to
the National Standards. We conclude by considering the implications of these
findings and how the RAINS research will continue to build an understanding of how
schools are grappling with the National Standards.
New Zealand’s National Standards were introduced in 2009 and involve schools
making and reporting judgements about the reading, writing and mathematics
achievement of children up to Year 8 (the end of primary school). These judgements
are made against a four-point scale (‘above’, ‘at’, ‘below’, or ‘well below’ the
standard) and are made after one, two or three years at school in the junior school
and then at the end of each year level from Years 4-8. The policy matches existing
curriculum levels (and associated numeracy stages and literacy progressions) to the
above times at which assessments need to be made against the National Standards.
This means that teachers are supposed to consider students’ achievement against
what is required for the curriculum levels, and use that understanding for then
making Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJs) about achievement against the National
Standards. OTJs are intended to be ‘on-balance’ judgements made by using various
indications of a child’s level of achievement, such as teachers’ knowledge of each
child from daily interactions, exemplars (examples of student work, with
accompanying notes to illustrate learning, achievement, and the calibre of the work
in relation to curriculum levels) and assessment tools, tasks and activities. The
definition of an OTJ from the New Zealand Ministry of Education (the ‘Ministry’) is as
follows:
An Overall Teacher Judgement (OTJ) is a judgment made about a student's
progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards. An OTJ should
be based on a variety of evidence teachers already collect, such as the
student's work, peer and self-assessment, everyday classroom observation
This article introduces the Research, Analysis and Insight into National Standards(RAINS) project, a study of how six schools are enacting the National Standardsintroduced into New Zealand’s primary and intermediate schools from October 2009.The article provides some background to the National Standards and the RAINSresearch before concentrating on findings from the first year of the study (2011). Themost important of these were that the RAINS schools’ responses to the NationalStandards had been largely incremental and strongly influenced and shaped byschool-specific contextual factors. Through brief accounts of each of the six schools,the article illustrates how crucial it is to take into account the contextual features ofschools in order to begin to make sense of the range of responses they have had tothe National Standards. We conclude by considering the implications of thesefindings and how the RAINS research will continue to build an understanding of howschools are grappling with the National Standards.New Zealand’s National Standards were introduced in 2009 and involve schoolsmaking and reporting judgements about the reading, writing and mathematicsachievement of children up to Year 8 (the end of primary school). These judgementsare made against a four-point scale (‘above’, ‘at’, ‘below’, or ‘well below’ thestandard) and are made after one, two or three years at school in the junior schooland then at the end of each year level from Years 4-8. The policy matches existingcurriculum levels (and associated numeracy stages and literacy progressions) to theabove times at which assessments need to be made against the National Standards.This means that teachers are supposed to consider students’ achievement againstwhat is required for the curriculum levels, and use that understanding for thenmaking Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJs) about achievement against the NationalStandards. OTJs are intended to be ‘on-balance’ judgements made by using variousindications of a child’s level of achievement, such as teachers’ knowledge of eachchild from daily interactions, exemplars (examples of student work, withaccompanying notes to illustrate learning, achievement, and the calibre of the workin relation to curriculum levels) and assessment tools, tasks and activities. Thedefinition of an OTJ from the New Zealand Ministry of Education (the ‘Ministry’) is asfollows:An Overall Teacher Judgement (OTJ) is a judgment made about a student'sprogress and achievement in relation to the National Standards. An OTJ shouldbe based on a variety of evidence teachers already collect, such as thestudent's work, peer and self-assessment, everyday classroom observation
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