Comparing a student’s achievement with the achievement of a nationally representative sample
A student’s achievement level on the JS scale can be compared with the achievement of nationally representative samples of students at Years 4, 5, and 6 who sat the test in March of 2017.
The table below shows sample statistics for the distributions of Year 4, 5 and 6 students on the JS scale.
Summary statistics for the JS norming sample measured in Term 1, 2017
|
|
Number of students |
Mean (jsc) |
Standard deviation (jsc) |
|
Year 4 |
908 |
41.3 |
9.9 |
|
Year 5 |
951 |
46.4 |
9.8 |
|
Year 6 |
1089 |
50.1 |
9.4 |
|
Note: This assessment was tested on reference groups in Years 4, 5, and 6 only. There is no normed reference data for |
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The NZCER Marking site allows you to choose which year level is used for comparisons. The comparisons are reported as representing either ‘high’, ‘middle’ or ‘low’ achievement for the year level selected. A ‘high’ achievement indicates that the student score falls in the top 23 percent of scores for the year level. A ‘middle’ achievement indicates that the score falls in the next 54 percent of scores. Finally, a ‘low’ achievement indicates that the score falls in the lowest 23 percent of scores. The graph below shows the distribution of student achievement on the JS scale, by year level.
As noted, the Junior Science: Thinking with Evidence ‘norming study’ was completed in March 2017. If you test your students at the end of the year, they will have had almost one more year of instruction than the norming study reference group for their year level. One way to adjust for this is to compare your students with the nationally representative sample for the year level above. For example, if you test your Year 5 class in December, it would be better to compare their results to the Year 6 sample. Choose the Year 6 reference year when viewing their reports.
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