Tracey Martin MP
Spokesperson for Education
15 May 2013

Is the Ministry Manipulating National Standards Results?

New Zealand First is alarmed the Ministry of Education appears to have altered the results of National Standards data in an effort to disguise flawed tests.

Education spokesperson Tracey Martin says there were already concerns about problems with some reading and writing tests that produced inflated results and therefore skewed data.

“The ministry itself even acknowledged there was a problem, but it appears it has gone a step further by going online by stealth, during the school holidays to adjust the marks downward, without informing schools.

“Schools have also been asked to use next year’s marking schedule to bring the results into some kind of line.”

Mrs Martin says it is unacceptable that the Ministry revised the tests and now is revising the results.

“How can schools trust the integrity of the Government’s corrupt National Standards data when the testing and the results have been manipulated?” asks Ms Martin.

ENDS

NOTE: These tests are the e-asTTle writing and NZCER’s STAR reading tests

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