Mathematics literacy achievement: senior secondary schooling
New Zealand is continuing its high performance in mathematical literacy at the senior secondary level, with only three out of thirty OECD countries achieving significantly higher mean scores than New Zealand.
Date Updated: December 2007
Indicator Description
Mathematical literacy of 15 year-old students.
What Have We Found
New Zealand is continuing its high performance in
mathematical literacy at the senior secondary level, with only three out of thirty OECD
countries achieving significantly higher mean scores than New Zealand.
Why This Is Important
Mathematical attainment at senior secondary level contributes to preparation for successful participation in tertiary education, and the ability to contribute to, and participate in, a changing labour market and an increasingly knowledge-based society. Attainment level is also related to individual well being.
Mathematical attainment is also important because mathematical literacy is the ability to formulate and solve mathematical problems in real life situations. This type of literacy is a foundation for participation as a reflective citizen in democracy and in occupational life.
How We Are Going
The mathematics scores from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 and PISA 2006 can be summarised on a combined mathematical literacy scale. This enables a comparison to be made between the mathematics literacy achievement of 15 year-old students in each of these years. Because th emathematical literacy domain underwent considerable expansion and change between 2000 and 2003, mathematical outcomes from PISA 2003 and 2006 are not comparable with results from PISA 2000.
New Zealand 15 year-old students performed well in PISA 2006 with only three OECD countries (Finland , Korea, and the Netherlands) achieving significantly higher mean scores. Chinese-Taipei and Hong Kong-China also achieved significantly higher mean scores than New Zealand. This same group of countries also performed significantly better than New Zealand in PISA 2003 (excluding Chinese Taipei who did not participate in PISA 2003). New Zealand’s performance was significantly above 21 of the other 29 OECD countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Distribution of overall mathematical literacy scores in PISA (2003 and 2006) 
Between 2003 and 2006 there has been no significant change in New Zealand’s average 15 year-old student performance in mathematical literacy. In contrast, seven OECD countries showed significant reductions in performance from 2003 to 2006.
Significantly more New Zealand 15 year-old students (19%) achieved at the top proficiency levels (Level 5 or above) in mathematical literacy than the OECD average in PISA 2006 (13%). Fourteen percent of New Zealand students did not reach beyond the lowest level of mathematical literacy (that is, achieving Level 2), and this proportion was statistically similar to that of Australia, but statistically lower than the average across the OECD countries (21%).
Percentage of New Zealand 15 year-old students reaching the PISA mathematical literacy proficiency levels (2006) 
In PISA 2006, 15 year-old boys achieved a significantly higher mean mathematical literacy score than girls, both in New Zealand and across the OECD on average, with an 11 point scale difference in each case. There was no change in the mean performance between boys and girls from 2003 to 2006.
In 2006, the mean scores for 15 year-old Asian and European/Pākehā students were significantly higher in PISA mathematics than Māori and Pasifika students. The average score for Māori 15 year-old students was significantly higher than Pasifika. A lower proportion of Māori and Pasifika students achieved at the highest levels of proficiency in mathematics, and were over-represented at the lower levels when compared with European/Pākehā and Asian students.
Where To Find Out More
This indicator is closely linked to other national assessment programs for mathematics, as well as achievement indicators for senior secondary school students, such as:- Mathematics achievement: primary schooling
- Mathematics achievement: middle schooling
- Reading literacy achievement: senior secondary schooling
- Science literacy achievement: senior secondary schooling
The Ministry of Education has established an Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme to systematically identify, evaluate, analyse, synthesise and make accessible, relevant evidence linked to a range of learner outcomes. Evidence about what works for this indicator can be found in:
References
Alton-Lee, A. (2003). Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis. Wellington, Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education, (2001). Assessing Knowledge and Skills for Life - First results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2000) - New Zealand Summary Report. Wellington, Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education (2004). Learning for Tomorrow's World - Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 - New Zealand Summary Report. Wellington, Ministry of Education.
OECD (2004). Learning for Tomorrow's World - First Results from PISA 2003. Paris, OECD.
OECD (2007). PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World: Vol 1. Paris: OECD.
Sturrock, F. and May, S. (2002). PISA 2000: The New Zealand Context. Wellington, Ministry of Education.
Telford, M. and Caygill, R. (2007). PISA
2006: How Ready Are Our 15-Year-Olds for Tomorrow’s World? Wellington: Ministry of Education.