Sample Parent Presentation on National Standards

1. Sample Parent Presentation on National Standards The following presentation has been used by a school to inform parents about the National Standards, the concerns around National Standards and to communicate what the school is doing with regard to implementation of National Standards. The Principal who prepared this presentation does not want recognition as it is a compilation of other’s work. You may adapt and use this presentation for your own purposes. Be aware that the views represented in this presentation may not be consistent with your own so it will be important for you to critique it closely.

2. Sample Parent Presentation on National Standards Be aware that the information contained in the last section is school specific and you will need to change it to reflect the approach your school is taking with implementation and reporting. In its present form the presentation is also quite lengthy so you might consider cutting back some of the content.

3. National Standards Parent Information Evening 29 July 2010 School Logo Here

4. Outline of Evening • Information about the National Standards • Why educators have reservations about the Standards • Describe and seek feedback on the steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • Explain the report that your child will be coming home with shortly

5. Questions you want answered

6. Information about the Standards • What are the Standards? • They are “milestones” for achievement at the end of every year level (Years 1-8) • Standards of minimum achievement in reading, writing and mathematics • The National Standards focus on the areas of Reading, Writing and Math • They aim to provide clear expectations for teachers, parents, students, schools and BOT’s on achievement at different year levels and plain language reporting on next steps learning.

7. Information about the Standards The Requirements for Schools • To report to parents a minimum of twice a year in “plain language” • Assess children against the standards and report on Achievement and Progress • Use the school assessment information to set targets (goals on achievement) to form priorities for 2011 • Send assessment information on our standards achieved to the Ministry of Education

8. Information about the Standards How the standards were developed • The goal is for every child to achieve a minimum of NCEA level 2 • The Standards have been backwards mapped from NCEA level 2 to determine where children need to be each year to reach NCEA level 2.

9. Information about the Standards NCEA Level 2 by Year 12 National Standard – After 1 Year at school

10. Information about the Standards Overall Teacher Judgement • Teachers have to use a combination of three components to make an “Overall Teacher Judgement” as to how each child is achieving

11. Overall Teacher Judgement

12. Information about the Standards Categories • Above – children are achieving above the standard for their age / year group. Generally, they have to be achieving / working a year or more above where they are expected to be • At – children are achieving at a level consistent with expectations for their age / year group • Below – children are achieving below the expected level for their age / year group, but it is expected that normal classroom programmes should, over time, allow the child to reach the expected standard • Well Below – children are achieving significantly below the expected level for their age / year group and extra programmes over and above the normal classroom programme will be needed to allow the child to reach their expected level

13. Outline of Evening • Information about the National Standards • Why educators have reservations about the Standards • Describe and seek feedback on the steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • Explain the report that your child will be coming home with shortly

14. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Educators are very concerned about the National Standards • There are many reasons why everyone in the education sector is worried about the National Standards. The main reasons are: - Standards are not based on Research Information - Short timeline for implementation - Negative impact on learning - Creation of league tables

15. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards National Standards are not based on Research Information • There are numerous reliable, effective, well researched and moderated assessment tools that schools currently use to determine a child's level of achievement.

16. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards All of these tools can be readily interchanged, as their data all shows similar levels of achievement regardless of the test that is used . For example a Star test will give the same result as a Probe test, as will an Asttle test etc.

17. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards National Standards are not based on Research Information • The problem is that the Standards do not line up with any of these forms of assessment! • The standards were developed by using a linear backwards mapping progression that assumed children would make the same amount of progress each year • The standards were developed without the input of the education sector, or taking into account research that shows realistic and achievable levels of attainment for children

18. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards National Standards are not based on Research Information • Standards are based on where some people have decided children should be • The Standards are more aspirational for children, rather than reflecting what research says is realistic for children

19. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards National Standards are not Standards • The standards are not written as standards • Schools are interpreting the standards in different ways • There is no provision for moderation between schools to ensure there is a National Standard

20. The Standards are not written as standards and require considerable interpretation

21. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards National Standards are not based on Research Information • The result will be that a large number of children and parents will be under the impression that their child is failing, their school is failing, or as parents they are failing, when in reality they are being measured against a criteria that is unfair • As educators, we do not want to do that to children, parents or communities

22. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Standards are not based on Research Information - Short Timeline for implementation - Negative impact on learning - Creation of league tables

23. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Short Timeline for Implementation • Schools (including Name of School) have set out a carefully laid plan to bring the Revised Curriculum into reality. 2010 is an important year in regard to this. Our PD programme is extremely full already, we will have to either create more time to implement these, or allocate less time to implementing the Revised Curriculum, or simply not do things we had planned to do

24. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Short Timeline for Implementation • Significant PD is required to allow teachers / schools to understand these expectations and bring school practices into line. Schools will have to attend many PD sessions on this during school time. No money is being given to schools for this. They are expected to change their budgets to allow this to happen. Teachers who attend these PD sessions then have train the other teachers in the school.

25. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Short Timeline for Implementation • We have attended our first PD session to train us how to use the standards effectively • At this session the instructors were unclear about what we had to do, as they had only just come back from their course to train us! • The resources to support the implementation are continually being updated and changed • Schools have had less than 6 months to prepare for their first round of reporting against National Standards

26. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Short Timeline for Implementation • Other resources the Ministry wants schools to use have not been developed yet. They are hopeful they will be available to schools sometime in 2010. • For example the alignment of the various assessment tools is not yet completed • Software to report to parents in relation to the National standards – not yet fully developed

28. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Short Timeline for Implementation • Schools have had 3 years to bring about changes to the Curriculum due to recognizing the significant changes required and the consultation required with the community. Schools were given significant resources to allow this to happen • Schools will have less than 1 year, and no extra resources to implement the National Standards

29. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards  Standards are not based on Research Information Short Timeline for implementation - Negative impact on learning - Creation of league tables

30. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Negative Impact on Learning • Across the world every country who has brought in National Standards has seen the education system change to focus entirely on achievement levels for the standards at the expense of other curriculum areas – arts, culture, sciences • Of these countries, most hold NZ up as an example of how not having standards still allows children to achieve to high levels (NZ ranked 5th globally)

31. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Negative Impact on Learning • Attention will move to focusing on the standards and not the curriculum. Already teachers are talking about referring to the standards to plan, not the curriculum as the standards are obviously the important things for children to learn • Despite the Ministry saying this will not happen, that is what has happened in every other country

32. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Negative Impact on Learning • While there is no “one test on a day” planned, this may be inevitable • Other countries who have gone down this track have all moved to a test as they found that even with moderation there was too much variance to provide reliable data comparison between schools • We have been told that this will not happen in NZ, as we will learn from the mistakes others have made • Other countries learnt from the mistakes others made and still ended up in the same place!

33. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Standards are not based on Research Information Short Timeline for implementation Negative impact on learning - Creation of league tables

34. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Creation of League Tables • These are inevitable. While this may not be the intention, parents / ERO / Ministry will rate the success of a school on their National Standards result Interesting Fact: The ERO site is one of the most clicked on sites in NZ (Trademe is the most clicked on site in NZ)

35. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Creation of League Tables • Comparisons will be made as to how good a school is based on how well the students are achieving, not how much progress they have made School 2 School 4 School 1 School 3 School 2 is seen as the most effective school because it has the highest results, but is it?

36. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Creation of League Tables • This has a negative effect in numerous ways • Schools will change the way they teach children • Low achieving children will miss out on extra intervention as schools will focus more on those “they can move” to bring their results up, at the expense of those significantly behind (that is what has happened in every other country)

37. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Creation of League Tables • Within schools, teachers feel huge pressure to have their children achieve well, to prove they are successful teachers • Teachers stop teaching to the needs / interests of the children, and focus on coaching children for the test

38. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Creation of League Tables • The ministry has said it has no desire to create league tables • It is possible to stop the creation of League tables • Several alternatives / mechanisms are already available to allow the Ministry to still receive the information it wants, to target low performing schools, without having to change legislation • All of these alternatives have been flatly rejected

39. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards Standards are not based on Research Information Short Timeline for implementation Negative impact on learning  Creation of league tables

40. Why Educators have reservations about the Standards What we are asking for? Educators, (including the top independent Academics whom the Ministry used as consultants) are asking that: • Opportunity for the Ministry of Education to work with the education sector to develop a new set of standards which will be able to be implemented as National Standards • A limited trial should be undertaken before the policy is implemented on a system-wide basis. • Schools (and their BOTs) that elect to be in the trial must be fully supported by professional development and the programme must be evaluated closely. • Any risks or unintended consequences identified must be acted upon before further system-wide implementation is undertaken.

41. Outline of Evening • Information about the National Standards • Why educators have reservations about the Standards • Describe and seek feedback on the steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • Explain the report that your child will be coming home with shortly

42. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • We are obliged to follow the National Education Guidelines, but you can understand why we are concerned • As a school we fully support the idea that school’s should report to parents on their child’s progress in plain English that is easy to understand • While we have serious concerns about National Standards, this meeting is not the place to have a debate about their pros and cons. We cannot change anything at this meeting. • This meeting is to inform you about the National Standards, outline why educators are concerned and explain what we are doing • We will continue to do our very best to raise every child’s achievement

43. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards Our commitment to doing our very best for the children of Name of School, to do what works, rather than what is politically correct and to continue to hold ourselves accountable to the children and families of our community will remain unchanged. Raising the achievement of every child is non negotiable

44. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • We have looked at and discussed the National Standards as a whole staff to try and understand what is required of us and to understand what is in the Standards. • We have put in place a plan to try and do as much as we can over 2010 with the limited information and resources we have available to us

45. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards Plain language reporting twice a year • In 2010 our first priority is to try and develop a reporting format and system that will show progress, show goals and also show achievement in an easy to understand format. • We will be using the Assessment tools that teachers are familiar with, that has proven to be reliable and research based to report on the achievement of children. • While the reports will look like a “National Standards” report, we are not using the achievement criteria outlined in the National Standards until the discrepancies between what is proven and what is aspirational have been reconciled.

46. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • In Term 1 we are going to report on writing within the children’s Learning Profile books • Other information including math and reading is in the Profile books also, but the writing report will use the suggested headings for National Standards reporting • We chose to start with Writing because our staff focus in 2009 was writing achievement and this is an area the teachers are very familiar with and have a high level of expertise in

47. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • In Term 2 we are going to include a report on Numeracy in the Learning Profile books using the suggested National Standards headings • In term 4 we are going to have a formal end of year report on Reading, Writing and Numeracy using the National Standards headings

48. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • Parent interviews will continue throughout the year • Formal parent interviews are planned for early in Term 2 • We may have a National Standards Report on reading in Term 3, but we need to explore the worth of this. In Term 1 parents will be given a lot of information, (as they have got for some time now), as to how their child is achieving. We do not want teacher’s time spent unnecessarily writing reports that have no beneficial educational impact on children. We believe parents would rather teachers spend time planning exciting learning opportunities for their class

49. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards • Continue to be involved in Professional Development opportunities learning more about the Standards and how they can be used to enhance learning • Keep in close contact with other schools to see what they have learnt and try to work collaboratively together where possible to share effective practice • Refine our reporting format and timeline as necessary based on feedback from the Name of School School Community and as our understanding grows • The focus from Term 2 2010 is numeracy and bringing it into line with the Revised Curriculum. We hope to develop more expertise in this over the year and hopefully the standards will fit into this development (as we are told it should)

50. Steps Name of School is taking in regards to the Standards Feedback from you • You initial reaction regards the direction we are planning on taking? • Your thoughts about the school using tried and true assessment criteria, or would you prefer the National Standards criteria? • Outline your thoughts regarding the timeline we are suggesting?