Conclusions

This report has examined trends in New Zealand mathematics achievement at the Year 5 level from 1994 to 2006. It has looked at New Zealand Year 5 students’ mathematics achievement in relation to other countries that participated in the study. An examination of the TIMSS assessment questions in relation to New Zealand’s mathematics curriculum was presented along with analyses of achievement by sub-groupings (such as gender and ethnicity) and background factors. A statistical model that attempts to explain variations among students, classes, and schools using the background information discussed in this report was also described.

Achievement in mathematics

Overall, the mean mathematics achievement of New Zealand Year 5 students has risen between 1994 and 2006. In terms of the distribution of mathematics achievement across the range of scores, this is narrower in 2006 than in 1994. The positive aspect of this change is that fewer students are demonstrating very low achievement, while a similar proportion of New Zealand students are gaining very high scores. In international terms, New Zealand Year 5 mathematics achievement is significantly higher than 12 of the 36 TIMSS countries participating at the middle primary level, but significantly lower than 19 of the 36 countries.

Year 5 students continue to demonstrate relative strengths in aspects of mathematics. They tend to perform relatively better on data display questions compared to number. Students also perform relatively better on questions that involve reasoning compared to questions that assess knowledge.

Background characteristics

Both high and low performers were found among boys and girls, and in all ethnic groupings. On average, there was no difference in mathematics achievement between boys and girls. However, some differences were observed among the ethnic groupings. Asian students achieved higher in mathematics than Pākehā/European and the mean mathematics achievement of both these groups was higher, on average, than that of Māori and Pasifika students. Māori students had higher mean mathematics achievement than Pasifika students.

In terms of other background characteristics, mathematics achievement was higher, on average, among students who regularly spoke English at home. Similarly, students who were born in New Zealand had higher mathematics achievement on average than those who were not. Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tended to have higher mean mathematics achievement than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds as evidenced by the proxy measures "books in the home, items in the home, household size and mobility". In addition, the decile of the school they attended, indicative of the level of economic disadvantage in the community in which they live, was positively related to mathematics achievement. That is, students in higher decile schools had higher achievement, on average, than students in lower decile schools. Year 5 students who reported a small or moderate amount of time in out-of-school leisure activities generally had higher achievement than those who reported no time or many hours on the activity.

Attitudes to mathematics

New Zealand Year 5 students generally expressed positive attitudes towards mathematics. Those students who reported positive attitudes towards mathematics or were confident in their own mathematics abilities had higher achievement than those who were less positive or confident.

Boys and girls expressed similar attitudes to mathematics, in terms of enjoyment and motivation. However, boys were more confident in their mathematics ability than girls. More Asian students reported high self-confidence in mathematics compared with Pākehā/European, Māori, and Pasifika students and students in the Other ethnic grouping. More Asian students and students in the Other ethnic grouping reported positive attitudes towards mathematics compared with Pākehā/European, Māori, and Pasifika students.

Final comment

The Ministry of Education’s current focus is on presence, engagement and achievement (Ministry of Education, 2007). The Ministry has in place a number of mechanisms for monitoring student performance in mathematics in primary and secondary schooling at the system level. Performance in mathematics reflects learning from within school, in family and whanau, and in the broader community. While overall there has been an increase in mean mathematics achievement between 1994 and 2006, variations in achievement among groupings require further attention.

This report has not examined all of the data collected in TIMSS. Further analyses will be undertaken including investigation of what is happening in mathematics in schools from information collected from teachers and principals. Further reports will become available during 2009.