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Letter to the editor of the Manawatu Standard from Ivan Snook
Dear Editor
The government’s release on National Standards which is supposed to counter the “disinformation’ spread by the teacher unions (03.02.10) contains four major errors, and a serious dishonesty.
The statement claims that the ERO report (2009) found that:
(1) “two thirds of school leaders were not properly managing assessment." It did not: it found that "some" leaders “trusted their junior school teachers or leaders who knew the students well.” This is perfectly reasonable.
(2) "30% of teachers were not doing a good job of teaching reading and writing." It did not: it found that 10% of teachers were less than adequate.
(3) "Many principals aren't adequately sharing their school's achievement information with their communities." It did not: it found that they reported to the school community about their own school but did not always give comparative data from other schools: why should they if the point is to inform parents as to how their children are performing?
(4) ERO gave 30% of teachers a “pretty damning” verdict on their performance. It did not: it found that 90% of teachers were performing adequately or better.
(5) “The ERO report found in 2007 that more than half of schools were not using assessment data well.” It did. BUT the 2009 report found that two-thirds are now using it well and mentions this as an enormous improvement (without any national standards!).
Ivan Snook
Emeritus Professor of Education
Massey University.
See also letter to the editor of the Dominion Post Prime minister should get his facts right 8 February 2010
Audio of John Key and Anne Tolley re National Standards promotional material can be accessed on the Scoop website.
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