Source: New Zealand Government
The conclusion of the Government’s Year 7 and 8 maths acceleration trial has shown students made double the progress of their peers in 12 weeks and largely retained their learning months later, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.
“We are committed to ensuring young Kiwis are learning the basics brilliantly, meeting the curriculum expectation, and getting the support they need to stay on track. The Year 7 and 8 maths trial’s final analysis confirms our approach is working in bridging the gap for students who need it most,” Ms Stanford says.
“In total, almost 3,500 students participated in the trial. This new group’s results echo the success and progress of the first groups. Last year’s trial helped Year 7 and 8 students a year or more behind in maths to get support across four fundamental learning areas. Participants made up to two years’ worth of progress across four learning areas in 12 weeks.
“Importantly, the latest data shows that when these students were tested three months later, their progress had largely been retained.
“Now, new results show that the second group of students that were tested have also made similar progress. Students in the in-person programme made twice as much progress as students in the control group.
“Students not in the trial, referred to as the ‘control group’, simply learning under the new curriculum, an hour-a-day of maths, and using high quality resources, also made, on average, a full year’s progress in four learning areas in just 12 weeks. This highlights the transformation underway in our classrooms under these education reforms.
“We promised to put student achievement at the centre of our education system, and this shows our plan is working. In addition to this, it supports our work to close the equity gap. Students achieved similar results regardless of their background, gender, or ethnicity, emphasising the impact of quality, in-person teaching and learning.
“The programme is now available across schools for students who will benefit from it. Our commitment is to ensuring that children have mastered fundamental skills,and are ready to excel at secondary school.”
Ms Stanford says professional learning is available for teachers, along with more teaching modules to support any students who need additional help beyond the 12-week programme.
“The maths acceleration programme builds on our Make it Count maths action plan. This plan introduced initiatives including:
$20 million in professional learning and development in the structured maths approach to support the rollout of the new curriculum
increased maths requirements for new teachers
group interventions to support students who have fallen significantly behind
earlier and more frequent intervention to tackle student achievement issues
This year we have also introduced maths resources to help Year 9 and 10 students who are behind at the request of the sector.
“We have introduced structured mathematics, an internationally benchmarked curriculum, one million workbooks and textbooks delivered to classrooms, and professional learning for more than 22,000 teachers, alongside hour-a-day maths and phones away.
Maths is a foundational skill that sets students up for future success. Our Government backs the potential of every child to succeed and is putting in place the support required to deliver this.
Notes to editor:
The programme involves small groups of students taking part in four, 30-minute Maths sessions per week for 12 weeks. The programme and trial, focus on four key areas that have been identified as fundamental maths skills:
Number structure, addition and subtraction
Multiplication and division including fluency and application of basic facts
Rational numbers – fractions, decimals, percentages
Reasoning/decoding word problems, solving and explaining word problems.
Three delivery models were tested in the trial:
In-person tutoring, delivered by a teacher using a structured Ministry-developed programme
Hybrid tutoring, combining online modules with teacher supervision and explicit teaching
Online-only tutoring, where students completed online modules under the supervision of a teacher aide.
Students were tested at Time 1 (baseline, week 0), Time 2 (end of programme, week 12) and Time 3 (post-programme, week 24) of the trial period to identify the gain in maths learning across that time.
