Towards Excellence – Mathematics Achievement

Source: Stringer, B. (2017). 2015-2016 PAT: Mathematics achievement and progress for a school participating in Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) [PDF 1mB]. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Figure 1. Russell School mean mathematics change data on Progressive Achievement Tests for Year 2 to Year 6 students for the first two years of DMIC implementation (2015 – 2016) in relation to decile norms.

Figure 1 shows that while there was variability in the degree of improvement, all cohorts at Russell school improved their scores over time, and by the end of 2016 (the second year of DMIC implementation) all of the cohorts at this school were above the national average scores for Decile 1 schools (the solid black line).

The 2015 Year 2 group (yellow line) had an average scale score of 28.39 patm by the end of their year 3, much higher than the 2015 Year 3 group's average scale score of 17.83 patm on the same test (displayed on the blue line). This analysis reveals the 2015 Year 2 cohort achieved well above the national average for other Decile 1 schools.

The 2015 Year 5 cohort (green line) has also finished with an average scale score notably higher than the national average (52.86 patm compared with 42.1 patm respectively), marking a dramatic improvement within one school year. This gave the cohort an average scale score closer to the Decile 8 national average than the Decile 1 average, as they reached the transition to intermediate.

Within the first two years of the DMIC implementation period, several cohorts scored higher than the cohort ahead of them, sometimes markedly so.

Towards Equity – Mathematic Achievement

Source: Stringer, B. (2017). 2015-2016 PAT: Mathematics achievement and progress for a school participating in Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) [PDF 1mB]. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Figure 2. Russell School mean mathematics change trajectories on Progressive Achievement Tests for Pasifika students 2015-2016

Pasifika learners, did, on average, score lower than their cohort average at the outset of the DMIC intervention early in 2015. There is variation in how wide these gaps started but they all tightened over the 2-year period. By the end of 2016, these gaps were negligible across all cohorts. For more detail see the source NZCER Report.

Equity, Excellence, Belonging and Wellbeing

Reductions in Bullying

The early change data on student bullying rates across the three Porirua East Schools for the first year of DMIC implementation in 2015 showed marked improvement.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in 2014/15 found that in only two countries was bullying significantly more frequent than in New Zealand for Year 5 students. The early change data in these three Porirua East schools showed reductions in bullying associated with the DMIC intervention: from 23.5% to 10.4% of students reporting they were made fun of or called names at least once a week, from 15.1% to 5.5% of students reporting they were left out of activities at least once a week, and from 20.5% to 7.4% of students reporting being hit, kicked or hurt by other students at least once a week.

Shifting Unconscious Bias: Inclusion and Belonging

There was change also for students' sense of belonging at school.  Baseline data for the three Porirua East schools indicated that there were children who, in mathematics, 'never' or 'hardly ever' felt good to be Māori, or Samoan, or their own (other) culture. This started changing. For example, in the Year 1 post-testing, Māori, Samoan, Cambodian and Iraqi students in Porirua East explained:

"I feel proud in my maths lesson today by carrying my family with me."

"I felt bad 'cause people tease my culture... (in maths now) I feel normal."

"To be Samoan today in maths was awesome."

The percentage of students who never or hardly ever felt good to be their culture dropped from 8.6% to 3.3% over the seven-month early implementation period.