Primary School Entry Assessment in New Zealand

Boereboom, John; Cramman, Helen

Abstract

There is a wide range of assessment tools used by schools to assess children at school entry in New Zealand. The lack of consistency of uptake and reporting of results leads to sporadic national data. This highlights a need for a national standardised assessment which can be used as a reliable baseline of what New Zealand children know when they start school and how they progress in their first year. The Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) assessment is a valid, reliable and internationally respected school entry assessment. The Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at the University of Canterbury used PIPS to collect data on 3916 students' early literacy and numeracy skills when they started school and followed up on their progress 12 months later. This provides a useful baseline of the literacy and numeracy skills New Zealand children have when they start school. The data is useful for the early identification of special learning needs and can be used to gauge the effectiveness of year 1 programmes.

Citation

Boereboom, J., & Cramman, H. (2018). Primary School Entry Assessment in New Zealand. NZ international research in early childhood education journal, 21(1), 47-61

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 7, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Oct 9, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2017
• Journal: New Zealand international research in early childhood education journal
• Electronic ISSN: 2537-7191
• Publisher: ChildForum Early Childhood Education Nationwide Network
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 47-61
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1349111
• Publisher URL: https://www.childforum.com/research/2018-nz-international-early-childhood-education-journal/1564-primary-school-entry-assessment-in-new-zealand.html