NZQA announcement

New enrolment-based measure of NCEA attainment

NZQA and the Ministry of Education have announced some changes to the way NCEA and University Entrance attainment is reported. 

The changes provide a more precise picture of how attainment is reported. It will count all domestic students in years 11 to 13 aged less than 19 on 1 January, rather than taking a snapshot of students as at 1 July. It will also count up to three ethnicities students identify with, rather than limiting this to just one. 

As a result, NZQA is expecting most schools will see a change in their attainment rates. It is a statistical adjustment that doesn’t reflect school performance, teaching practice or an individual student’s results. 

“The key thing to remember is that whilst percentages for NCEA and University Entrance percentages may change, the amount of improvement in student attainment is similar and positive.” 

NZQA is consulting with schools in June and July on the way attainment is reported at a school level and will report back in September. The new measure will be used for reporting 2018 NCEA and University Entrance attainment statistics in January 2019.