New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project commenced in 1993 with the task of assessing and reporting on the achievement of New Zealand primary school children in all areas of the school curriculum. Children are assessed at two class levels: Year 4 (halfway through primary education) and Year 8 (at the end of primary education). Different curriculum areas and skills are assessed each year, over a four year cycle. The main goal of national monitoring is to provide detailed information about what children can do so that patterns of performance can be recognised, successes celebrated, and desirable changes to educational practices and resources identified and implemented.

Each year, small random samples of children are selected nationally, then assessed in their own schools by teachers specially seconded and trained for this work. Task instructions are given orally by teachers, through video presentations, or in writing. Many of the assessment tasks involve the children in the use of equipment and supplies. Their responses are presented orally, by demonstration, in writing, or through submission of other physical products. Many of the responses are recorded on videotape for subsequent analysis.

In 1995, the first year that national monitoring was implemented, three areas were assessed: science, art, and the use of graphs, tables and maps. This report presents details and results of the assessments in the use of graphs, tables and maps.

The results show that many students have attained high levels of skill in the use of graphs, tables, and maps of various kinds. At year 8 level, more than half of the tasks or task components were completed successfully by at least 90 percent of the students. This suggests that many year 8 students are well equipped to extract useful information from graphs, tables and maps which they are likely to encounter in their daily lives and further schooling. Their success rate in constructing or completing graphs was somewhat lower, as would be expected. Failure to use proper scales and labels on graphs and tables was the most notable weakness. Year 4 students were less successful overall, but many performed well on some of the interpretation tasks. The average progress shown between year 4 and year 8 was considerable, reflecting well on students' educational experiences between year 4 and year 8.

Acknowledgements
The Project directors acknowledge the vital support and contributions of many people to this report, including: