Assessing New Zealand high school science: Considerations for teachers’ assessment literacy

In New Zealand the Ministry of Education recognises assessment as an essential component of quality teaching and school and system improvement (Ministry of Education, 2010). Teachers’ assessment capability has been defined as being “able and motivated to access interpret and use information from quality assessment in ways that affirm learning or further knowledge” (Absolum et. al, 2009, p. 6). In the New Zealand context assessment, teaching, and learning are seen as being inextricably linked, and “…to be assessment capable, teachers need assessment curriculum, and pedagogical knowledge” (Ministry of Education, 2011, p. 35). Teachers working in New Zealand secondary schools fulfil a range of roles and responsibilities common to teachers around the world. However the qualification system used in New Zealand secondary schools adds another layer of complexity on to what is already a challenging and varied job: that of classroom teachers assessing students’ work against achievement standards, the results of which will contribute directly to these students’ school-leaving qualifications.

New Zealand qualifications system

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main national qualification designed for secondary school students in New Zealand. NCEA is a standards-based qualification, first introduced in 2002. It is aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA), the two official curriculum documents for English medium and Maori medium schooling for Years 1-13 ie 5 – 18 year olds. These curriculum documents describe the compulsory learning areas that are required to be taught in New Zealand schools. Each learning area is broken down into eight levels, with associated achievement objectives, which describe the desired progression of learning. In the final three years of schooling, NZC and TMoA curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8 are taught. Secondary school qualifications are awarded at these three levels: NCEA level 1 (gained from assessment of curriculum level 6), NCEA Level 2 (gained from assessment of curriculum level 7) and NCEA Level 3 (gained from assessment of curriculum level 8).

Most senior secondary students in New Zealand study five or six subjects in each of their final three years at high school, and each of these subjects is assessed against a number of achievement standards. Achievement standards have been developed for each subject in each of curriculum levels 6, 7 and 8. Each of these achievement standards is effectively a subset of learning outcomes with associated assessment criteria, accompanied by the standard of performance required to show proficiency in that subject. Depending on the achievement standards they choose, schools use either internal or external assessment tasks to assess whether the students meet specific achievement standards. When students meet or “achieve” an achievement standard, they gain credits. Students must gain 80 credits to gain a specific NCEA (with a minimum of 60 credits coming from one curriculum level). High achievement is recognised through the gaining of endorsements (merit or excellence) for individual subjects or the overall NCEA qualification.

Secondary schools in New Zealand independently have the authority to decide on the combinations of achievement standards they use to assess students in the science courses they teach. For example for Level 1 Science there are 16 achievement standards available, each offering 4 credits (See Table I). In general, a full year high school course in science will offer a total of 20-24 credits, so usually 5-6 standards are chosen for any one course. For each subject in each level only three standards (usually 12 credits) are available to be assessed via external examination. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) sets these examinations. All other achievement standards are assessed by internal assessment within individual schools, and these assessments are set and marked by classroom teachers. A sample of internally assessed work is moderated each year by NZQA for each school, to assure the public of the validity and reliability of the assessment. There are no compulsory standards.

The involvement of teachers in this high stakes summative assessment has been the subject of much discussion since the introduction of the NCEA qualifications in 2002 (Barrett, 2008; Hipkins & Neill, 2003; Mizutani, Rubie-Davies, Hattie, & Philp, 2011). Classroom teachers are fully responsible for decisions made with respect to teaching and assessment in their courses, including the design and marking of tasks for internal assessment components. In order to be able to make these assessment decisions well therefore, teachers need specific assessment literacy. With recent review and redevelopment of new achievement standards, science teachers need to further consider their assessment practice.

My personal observations, both while working as a teacher responsible for NCEA in a school, and while employed by NZQA as a moderator of teachers’ assessment tasks and judgements, reveal that having to perform this internal assessment causes stress and concern for classroom teachers. Even though they have freedom to develop their own assessment tools, many teachers choose not to because of their lack of self-confidence to develop assessment tasks that meet the requirements of NZQA or because of their perceived lack of time (Alison, 2005; Kane & Fontaine, 2008). Instead, they often end up using assessment tasks that have been commercially developed, or they adapt NZQA-generated exemplar tasks for their own use. This lack of confidence is not surprising given their varied levels of specialist assessment knowledge for what is a complex, technically demanding, and time-consuming task, in a high-stakes situation. This paper takes a broad view of assessment literacy and applies five focus areas of assessment to explore what good practice can look like for science teachers assessing standards which contribute to the NCEA Level 1 qualification for 15-16 year old students.

Realignment process and the nature of the science standards

With the implementation of the revised New Zealand Curriculum in 2007 came the necessity to review and revise the science achievement standards used for NCEA, to maintain alignment between the achievement objectives in the revised curriculum, and the assessment system. The main change introduced into the science learning area of the revised New Zealand Curriculum was the introduction of the Nature of Science (NOS) strand, seen as “the overarching and unifying strand” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 28). This was seen as significant and pervasive but it was decided not to develop specific achievement standards to assess against the outcomes of the NOS strand (NZQA, 2008). Instead, aspects of NOS have been integrated into each of the achievement standards developed within each of the contextual strands (Living world, Planet Earth and Beyond, Physical world and Material world), thus reflecting the intent of the NZC. The significance of the NOS strand interwoven into all science achievement standards meant that the focus of science assessment has had to change, and this has had implications for teachers of science involved in assessment.

The redeveloped standards for science were introduced for use in schools in 2011. Ministry of Education policy for this review of achievement standards has resulted in only 3 of the 16 new Level 1 science achievement standards being assessed externally by formal examination. These are: AS90940 Demonstrate understanding of aspects of mechanics, AS90944 Demonstrate understanding of aspects of acids and bases, and AS90948 Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation, and each of these achievement standards contributes 4 credits towards NCEA. All other aspects of NZC curriculum level 6 science are assessed through a range of internally assessed achievement standards. Table I shows the matrix for current science achievement standards available for use by teachers. I have grouped the standards by mode of assessment (internal/external) and have summarised the criteria in Table II.

Table I : Matrix of Level 1 science achievement standards (taken from www.nzqa.org.nz)

NCEA LEVEL 1

Physical World

Material World

Living World

Planet Earth & Beyond

AS90940 Science 1.1

Demonstrate understanding of aspects of mechanics

4 credits External

AS90944 Science 1.5

Demonstrate understanding of aspects of acids and bases

4 credits External

AS90948 Science 1.9

Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation

4 credits External

AS90952 Science 1.13

Demonstrate understanding of the formation of surface features in New Zealand

4 credit Internal

AS90941 Science 1.2

Investigate implications of electricity and magnetism for everyday life

4 credits Internal

AS90945 Science 1.6

Investigate implications of the use of carbon compounds as fuels

4 credits Internal

AS90949 Science 1.10

Investigate life processes and environmental factors that affect them

4 credits Internal

AS90953 Science 1.14

Demonstrate understanding of carbon cycling

4 credits Internal

AS90942 Science 1.3

Investigate implications of wave behaviour for everyday life

4 credits Internal

AS90946 Science 1.7

Investigate the implications of the properties of metals for their use in society

4 credits Internal

AS90950 Science 1.11

Investigate biological ideas relating to interactions between humans and micro-organisms

4 credits Internal

AS90954 Science 1.15

Demonstrate understanding of the effects of astronomical cycles on planet Earth

4 credits Internal

AS90943 Science 1.4

Investigate implications of heat for everyday life

4 credits Internal

AS90947 Science 1.8

Investigate selected chemical reactions

4 credits Internal

AS90951 Science 1.12

Investigate the biological impact of an event on a New Zealand ecosystem

4 credits Internal

AS90955 Science 1.16

Investigate an astronomical or Earth science event.

4 credits Internal

Table II: Summary of Level 1 science standards with summary criteria
	NCEA Level 1 Science Achievement Standards (4 credits each)	Meeting achievement criteria involves students:
Externally assessed by end-of-year NZQA examinations (Most schools choose these 3 standards)	90940 Demonstrate understanding of aspects of mechanics	Demonstrating understanding of aspects of mechanics and may include using methods when solving related problems Ability to carry out calculations, description and explanation incl. graphical interpretation.
	90944 Demonstrate understanding of aspects of acids and bases	Demonstrating understanding of atomic structure, particle theory and rates of reaction relating to acids and base properties, uses and reactions. Ability to use chemical language, description and explanation incl. graphical interpretation
	90948 Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation	Demonstrating understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation. Making connections between concepts
Internally assessed during the year by teachers using teacher made tasks or modified NZQA assessment resources (Most schools choose 1- 4 of these standards)	90941 Investigate implications of electricity and magnetism for everyday life 90942 Investigate implications of wave behaviour for everyday life 90943 Investigate implications of heat for everyday life 90945 Investigate implications of the use of carbon compounds as fuels 90946 Investigate the implications of the properties of metals for their use in society 90947 Investigate selected chemical reactions* 90949 Investigate life processes and environmental factors that affect them 90950 Investigate biological ideas relating to interactions between humans and micro-organisms 90951 Investigate the biological impact of an event on a New Zealand ecosystem 90955 Investigate an astronomical or Earth science event	Investigating a phenomenon by the generation/gathering/use of data from primary and/or secondary sources, and communicating the findings and results of their investigations. No restrictions exist on how communication occurs. Links between concepts, and analysis is required for higher levels of achievement. An emphasis on the practical outworking of scientific phenomena in everyday life is required to be communicated. *Only 90947 insists on experimental work as a compulsory component, although other standards suggest primary sources of data be used.
	90952 Demonstrate understanding of the formation of surface features in New Zealand 90953 Demonstrate understanding of carbon cycling 90954 Demonstrate understanding of the effects of astronomical cycles on planet Earth	Demonstrating understanding by communicating key scientific ideas evident in the phenomenon under study. Scientific knowledge can be gathered by a number of means. Links between key ideas, phenomena are required for higher levels of achievement.

As explained earlier, externally assessed achievement standards use examinations that are set and marked by personnel contracted to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), and so these assessments are outside of the control of classroom teachers. The internally assessed achievement standards are the focus for this paper, as their use requires classroom teachers to have a degree of assessment literacy. A summary of the Level 1 internally assessed achievement standards for science (shown in Table II) shows that the standards cover a wide range of science content. All standards require students to either investigate the implications of a scientific phenomenon for everyday life, or investigate particular phenomena, or demonstrate understanding of particular scientific knowledge. Before the review, earlier achievement standards focussed more on scientific content without students necessarily having to make links to everyday life, but since the redevelopment of standards, the majority now focus on links made to the real world, to reflect the New Zealand Curriculum. This has posed assessment challenges to science teachers eg. the management of time is difficult, as more teaching time is now used up by internal assessment tasks, when compared to pre-NCEA days (Hipkins, 2013). The temptation to “teach to the test/task” is high when teachers feel time pressure or feel they may be judged based on the success of their students. As well as this, the task of providing engaging and authentic opportunities (assessment tasks), which enable students to provide evidence of their learning, is challenging and requires teachers to have a high level of assessment literacy.

Research conducted to investigate the standards-based assessment of scientific inquiry through an earlier science achievement standard 90186 Carry out a practical science investigation with direction showed that the teaching leading up the assessment was affected (Hume, 2006; Moeed & Hall, 2011). In both of these studies, it was shown that teachers ended up focussing on a very narrow skillset with their students, and basically “practising” for the assessment, rather than helping students understand that science is predicated upon investigation, by allowing them to be involved in a wide range of investigations. The current internal achievement standards are different from 90186 in that they encourage practical work in the context of a real life scenario. Teachers who design tasks and make judgements about students’ work for these new standards, must employ their assessment literacy in order to enhance quality assessment.