Key findings

• Overall, less than a quarter of students are meeting the expected curriculum level for their age, with Year 3 at 20%, Year 6 at 28% and Year 8 at 22%.
• In 2023, a new draft refreshed maths curriculum was introduced. As well as being clearer about what is expected at each year level, the refreshed curriculum increased expectations of student capability in maths.
• In 2022, NMSSA found that 82% of Year 4 and 42% of Year 8 met the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum expectations. Analysis of the underlying maths assessment scales of both assessments at Year 8 confirmed that student performance has not changed from 2022 to 2023, but rather the curriculum expectation has changed with the refresh.
• Despite the proportion of students meeting the curriculum expectation for their age, the figure shows that on average students are making progress - however not at the rate required by the curriculum.
• In maths, as in other areas, there was a strong association between socio-economic status and achievement. Students in the group of schools with ‘Fewer Barriers’ were more likely to meet curriculum expectations their peers in schools with ‘Moderate Barriers’ and they were more likely to meet expectations than peers in schools with ‘More Barriers’.

About the assessment

Data was collected via online computer- adaptive assessments implemented by classroom teachers in October 2023. Students answered 30 selected response questions related to number, algebra, space, statistics, and probability.

Selection was random from among state and state-integrated English-medium schools across New Zealand (43 at Year 3 and 6, and 42 at Year 8). Around 900 students were assessed at each year level. In 2024 and thereafter, the sample will be 80 schools and approximately 2,000 students at each year level.

The assessment focusses on Years 3, 6 and 8 which correspond to the end of the first three phases of the refreshed curriculum.

More information is available on the website of the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study.