A Critical Perspective on the Recent Maths Trial Claims
Kia ora. I recently wrote a briefing document to share with colleagues, a "Professional Guidance for Teachers" about recent claims from the Minister of Education The Minister has publicly stated that a 12 week maths acceleration trial for Year 7&8 students delivered “one to two years of progress,” and further claimed that students not involved in the trial made “one year’s progress in 12 weeks” through standard classroom teaching under the new curriculum. These statements are being promoted as evidence that the current reforms are “groundbreaking” and capable of rapidly solving New Zealand’s maths achievement challenges. As educators, we need to critically examine these claims. The reported results are based solely on number skills, one of several strands of mathematics. No evidence was provided for learning in algebra, geometry, measurement, probability or statistics, i.e. a significant proportion of the maths curriculum was not assessed. Therefore, the headline claim o...
