New Zealand Scholarship Assessment

Te manu ka kai i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Te manu ka kai i te mātauranga, nōna te ao. The bird that partakes of the berry, his is the forest. The bird that partakes of knowledge, his is the world. Whakataukī

What is required to achieve scholarship? Scholarship candidates are expected to demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation, and to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations. NZQA: standards/awards/scholarship

And Depending on the area of study, a student will display a range of: –comprehensive content knowledge (breadth and depth) –effective communication –original or sophisticated solutions, performances or approaches –critical evaluation –flexible thinking in unfamiliar/unexpected contexts.

Scholarship subjects For 2013 there are 35 New Zealand Scholarship subjects being assessed. This is no different from 2012 except that: –Earth and Space Science has replaced generic Science –Statistics replaces Statistics and Modelling –Calculus replaces Mathematics with Calculus –Design and Visual Communications replaces Graphics

Parameters of the New Zealand Scholarship Performance Standards They: are derived from the achievement objectives at Level 8 of the NZC (2007) and/ or related documents assume lower level knowledge and skills expect students to demonstrate the critical thinking skills outlined earlier

The Current New Zealand Scholarship Performance Standards New Zealand Scholarship Performance Standards have: been developed with two generic performance descriptors for ‘Scholarship’ and ‘Outstanding Scholarship’ Where necessary, subject specific information and definitions are included in the Explanatory Notes.

and Scholarship examination papers or formats of assessment for 2013 are not expected to differ significantly from those for 2011 or 2012 for most subjects However it is important that the Performance Standard and the Assessment Specifications for the current year are addressed when preparing students for assessment Schools should prepare their students for 2013 with the same approach they have used previously

Who gets Scholarship Provided the standard is met: Scholarship will be awarded to 3% of the Level 3 cohort, plus or minus 0.25% Outstanding will be awarded to 0.3% to 0.4% of the Level 3 cohort For small cohorts (< 1000 candidates), the 3% figure may vary by plus or minus 5 candidates.

The profile of a good Scholarship examination

How is each Standard Assessed TOGA has advised us that there should be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 components to be assessed for each subject. Each component assessed should be designed to elicit unique information about candidates.

Marking Each component is marked using a 0 – 8 scale Marks of 7 and 8 indicate outstanding performance for that component Marks of 5 and 6 indicate scholarship performance for that component Marks of 1 to 4 indicate some understanding relevant to the question 0 means there is no relevant information given

The Challenge of the Standards Scholarship candidates are expected to: demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation, and to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations.

What is critical thinking? "We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. (Delphi report 1990)

Up to and including Level 8 Achievement Objectives of the New Zealand Curriculum Scholarship standard (criteria and explanatory notes) Assessment Specifications Up to and including Level 8 Achievement Objectives of the New Zealand Curriculum Scholarship standard (criteria and explanatory notes) Assessment Specifications Assessment schedule (evidence/ judgement statements) Assessment task (the means of collecting valid evidence) Developing a Task

Resources Available on our website: Previous years work and exemplars are available from the subject resources pages from our website: standards/qualifications/ncea-subject-resources/ Or from the scholarship pages themselves at: standards/awards/scholarship-subjects/

Resources

Questions Please Constructive comments, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish growth without destroying its roots.