Parents want to know how their child’s doing
new-zealand-national-party
Tue Apr 03 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Parents want to know how their child’s doing
Tuesday, 3 April 2007, 2:00 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party
Katherine Rich MP
National Party Education Spokeswoman
3 April 2007
Parents want to know how their child’s doing
National Party Education spokeswoman Katherine Rich says parents will be disappointed that some in the education sector are choosing to close their minds to the prospect of reliable national standards in reading, writing and mathematics.
“National’s not talking about one test for all and neither are we talking about league tables. We want schools to choose the model that best suits their students. It might be AsTTle, P.A.Ts, six year net, or many other options. Schools will decide, not Wellington.
“The misinformation being spread around by some is deliberately designed to confuse those at the coalface of our education system, and seed doubt with parents.
“But National is committed to addressing a situation where one in five children leave our schools barely able to read or write. If we want to fix that alarming failure rate, parents need to know long before those students drop out, or find themselves out of their depth at secondary school.
“I understand fully that assessment can make a difference only if it's used to direct teaching and make a difference to the learning of individual kids.”
Mrs Rich says National has made it clear that it is prepared to work with all education representatives to develop benchmarks that suit our kids, and to talk about strategies to use such assessment to enhance learning in the classroom.
“And if the Principals’ Federation wants to absent itself from those sorts of discussions then that's a real disappointment. I do hope that some principals and parents will make it clear to them that they want better information about their children’s education and better assessment to inform classroom teaching.
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“I can’t see why the federation should be resisting such a plan. Judy Hanna herself has said ‘schools are about learning and assessment for learning’ and I agree with that.
“The strange thing is that such outright opposition cuts right across the work that most good schools are doing already. Principals should welcome anything that improves the ability of parents to play a more active role in their child’s education.”
ENDS
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