National Testing: Is it valid

Fiona McDiarmid & Deb Gibbs

The recent publication of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011, has raised much debate in the public and political arena in New Zealand. Analysis of the data indicates that New Zealand students performed less well than most developed countries, and performance of ten year olds has declined since 2001. The question being asked is, “Why are New Zealand’s ten year olds not performing as well as those in other developed countries?” In 2010, New Zealand introduced National Standards in mathematics, reading and writing. The mathematics standards rely on teachers making judgments about a student’s overall learning from a wide range of relevant evidence. Other countries such as Australia, England and the United States of America have introduced national testing. The notion that New Zealand students aren’t practised in taking tests in this manner has been offered as an explanation for the decline. How does a student’s prior test-taking skills and experience impact on results in such a high stakes activity? Do international tests like TIMSS provide an accurate measurement of a student’s mathematical understanding and ability to solve complex problems? Should teachers be investing some time in practising the techniques for tests of this type? This round table forum presents a small-scale study investigating the impact of practiced skills involved in test taking in relation to mathematics standard data. Discussion will focus on high stakes testing versus overall teacher judgments in assessing mathematical competence.

Reviewing of research papers

Research papers will be blind reviewed by a panel of peers approved by the conference committee. The main purpose of the refereeing process is to contribute to the growth and development of quality practice in mathematics education research. Thus reviewers are asked to assist authors by providing helpful feedback and to comment on the suitability of papers for presentation at the conference. Accordingly, it will not be assumed that published papers presented at the conference will be as polished as articles in scholarly journals. Referees will be asked to assess papers being reviewed against the accepted norms for scholarly works presented at MERGA conferences, as set out above.

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Reviewers’ comments will be returned to the authors. Authors whose papers are not accepted for publication may be invited by the editorial panel to present their paper at the conference, with an abstract (only) being published in the proceedings. Papers may be rejected outright, with no opportunity for presentation at the conference in an alternative form.

The MERGA website has detailed advice about criteria for reviewing of MERGA papers, review forms, and examples of strong and poor reviews of different types.

National Testing: Is it valid

National Testing: Is it valid

Short Communications

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