Heather Roy's Diary

National Standards Deliver On Parents' Rights
The New Zealand school year kicked off to a rather tense start last week, with the introduction of the controversial National Standards dominating the media and most dinnertime discussion. I think it's safe to say that if you didn't have an opinion on the standards three weeks ago, you will certainly have one now.

National Standards provide benchmarks for expected levels of student achievement in literacy and numeracy from Years 1-8. It is compulsory that primary schools test their students against these benchmarks and provide parents with a progress report on their child twice a year. The report will show students' achievement as being above, matching, or below the corresponding standard along with their assessment results. Schools will report their students' results to the Ministry of Education in 2012.

Many say this type of initiative is long overdue and, frankly, I have to agree. One in five students fail within our education system - leaving school without the basic skills they need to succeed in life - and the Standards provide a mechanism for identifying which students are falling behind. Not only this, the standards also provide parents with much-needed information on their child's educational progress.

Much of the debate is not about the standards themselves but the information that stems from these assessments that will be available to parents, and the way it will be available to the public. It seems concern over information on schools isn't just isolated to New Zealand - there has also been a controversial start to the Australian school year when Education Minister Julia Gillard launched the new 'My School' website (www.myschool.edu.au) two weeks ago.

'My School' provides comprehensive and useful information to parents on the country's 10,000 schools, both government and independent. Information includes student results in National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing, and a school's average score in these assessments. Parents can compare their children's results against the national average, and their child's school against the average of other schools serving similar student populations. This latter comparison is possible through the Index of Community Socio-Economic Advantage (ICSEA), a measure developed to show the levels of disadvantage or advantage in schools throughout the country. This measure allows meaningful school comparisons because like is compared with like.

Also available on the website is information about Year 12 qualification obtainment (academic and vocational), school-leaver destinations, number of teaching and non-teaching staff, and the average rate of student attendance.

There has also been a promise of even more information in the future. Yet to be added are the qualifications of a school's teaching staff, the proportion of teachers at a school with a high level of expertise, a breakdown of school income, resources, and expenditure, and the results from parent, student, and teacher satisfaction surveys of their school.

The initiative follows the Australian Government's commitment in 2008 to provide parents with transparent and useful information on schools and is part of the Australian Government Education Revolution. The government acknowledged that, "parents need to be on an equal footing with a principal or school board in order to be able to have a discussion about school performance, or to be able to choose between schools for their children." The government also plans to use the information to identify struggling schools and provide those schools with additional funding and support.

Much like the National Standards in New Zealand, the information available on 'My School' has sparked debate across Australia. Predictably, the teacher unions vigorously oppose the initiative, principals have had mixed reactions, and parents love it. Demand was so great among parents that the website crashed on its first day because it could not cope with the strain of nine million hits.

The demand speaks for itself. Parents clearly want information on schools and their performance. Here in New Zealand, the National Standards have followed a direct request from parents for "plain-language reporting" on the educational progress of their child. The results of a Nielsen survey released last week are also very telling with 73 percent of parents in favour of the National Standards.

Parents have a right to information about their children and schools and, as we have seen both here and in Australia, they want it. If parents are to play an active role in their child's education, they need to have a clear idea of how their child is progressing and the quality of education their school is providing. Information plays the critical role of informing choice, making schools accountable for their results, and it creates the necessary incentives for schools to provide a quality education.

Let's hope the hysteria from some areas settles down soon and in further attempts at closer relations with Australia we take stock of their example. It's time to stop talking transparency and accountability in education and time to actually do it.

Lest We Forget - Charles Heaphy Recommended For VC
A draftsman and artist with the New Zealand Company, Charles Heaphy arrived in New Zealand aboard the Tory with William Wakefield in 1839. He is remembered for his part in the expedition that led to the founding of Nelson.

Heaphy was a major in the Auckland Militia during the invasion of the Waikato and was attached to Lieutenant General Duncan Cameron's staff as Military Surveyor and Guide to the Forces.

During a conflict at Waiari - north of Te Awamutu - on February 11 1864, Heaphy went to the aid of wounded soldier and came under intense fire. Wounded in three places, Heaphy continued to help the wounded until the end of the day and for his actions was recommended for the Victoria Cross.

On May 11 1867, Major Charles Heaphy became the only colonist to receive the VC - an award for which colonial forces were ineligible.

ENDS