National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement - Science 2017 Key Findings

The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) is designed to assess student achievement across the New Zealand Curriculum at Year 4 and Year 8 in English-medium state and state-integrated schools. The study is organised in five-year cycles. The first cycle ran from 2012 to 2016.

In 2017, NMSSA assessed science achievement using a nationally representative sample of about 2,100 students at each year level. Results were reported on a measurement scale called the Science Capabilities (SC) scale. Questionnaires were also used to gather contextual information from students, teachers and principals.

Science was last assessed by NMSSA in 2012. The measurement scales used in 2012 and 2017 were linked on the basis of assessment tasks that were used at both points of time. This allowed results from the separate studies to be compared.

This report is designed to provide a succinct overview of key findings from the 2017 science study. The report is supplemented by a report focused on curriculum insights for teachers, a technical report and an online interactive statistical application. All reports and the interactive application can be found on the NMSSA website1.