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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 1997, the third year that national monitoring was implemented, three areas were assessed: mathematics, social studies, and information skills. This report presents details and results of the assessments of social studies. The framework for social studies identified five strands of understandings which are important to social studies. These involved interaction, change, organisation, identity and heritage. In this report, assessment results relating to both interaction and change are presented in Chapter 3, followed by Organisation, and identity and heritage. Chapter 6 presents assessment results relating to knowledge about the main settings identified in the framework: Aotearoa/New Zealand, Pacific communities, and other communities. The importance of attitudes and motivation is also noted in the framework: related assessment results are presented in the Social Studies Survey. Chapter 3 reveals students' understandings and skills relating to interaction and change. Year 8 students were substantially more successful than year 4 students on the four tasks which both year levels attempted, but many students at both levels had difficulty identifying and interpreting important messages that lay behind the surface of the situations they were asked to consider. Many also struggled to identify key features of different social and cultural environments, and their implications for life in those environments. A high proportion of students had difficulty identifying the merits of both sides of a debate and then forming fair, balanced conclusions. Chapter 4 presents results showing students understandings and skills relating to human organisation. All tasks in this chapter show wide ranges of achievement, from highly capable to very limited performances, by both year 4 and year 8 students. Most teams of students had good understanding of appropriate rules for working in groups, and a good proportion could come up with reasonable strategies for addressing interaction problems in school environments. However, a high percentage of year 8 students revealed moderate to poor ideas and understandings about the roles of leaders and basic processes and functions of New Zealand's parliament. Chapter 5 displays students understandings and skills relating to identity and heritage, with particular emphasis on our New Zealand heritage. Year 8 students performed better than year 4 students on all shared tasks, but there was a wide spread of scores from very capable to poor at both levels. A substantial proportion of students had difficulty suggesting images or symbols that are particularly distinctive of New Zealand, with few chosing to feature distinctively Mäori images. A majority, even at year 8, could not explain the origin or significance of the two main features on the New Zealand flag. Few year 4 students, but a substantial proportion of year 8 students, could explain traditional elements of a marae welcoming ceremony. Chapter 6 presents results for tasks that assessed students' knowledge of factual information. The main focus here was on knowledge relevant to everyday life in New Zealand: places, people and events which are part of the fabric of our daily lives. Overall, the results show that year 8 students enjoyed substantially greater success than year 4 students on the tasks common to both years. However, a substantial proportion even of year 8 students displayed major gaps in their knowledge of key information about New Zealand and the world. For instance, Mount Cook, Waitangi, and Cape Reinga were placed in the wrong island by over 20 percent of year 8 students, and 25 percent did not understand what Cook Strait was or where it was located. Year 8 students also divided almost equally between four options when indicating how often general elections are held in New Zealand. Results from a survey are presented in Chapter 7. The survey sought information from students about their attitudes towards social studies as a learning area and about particular aspects of their experiences in social studies. Compared to year 8 students, a higher proportion of year 4 students were very positive about social studies as a learning area. However, the responses of year 4 students' to other questions indicated that a high proportion confused social studies with science. Social studies was not one of the most popular school subjects. The most liked aspect at both year levels was learning about other countries, cultures and people. Chapter 8 reports the results of analyses which compared the performance of different demographic subgroups. Very few differences on the tasks were found for students from different sized schools or communities, or from full primary or intermediate schools, but at year 8 level South Island students performed better on six of the twenty-six tasks. On several tasks at both levels, boys showed better knowledge than girls of map information and other aspects of factual knowledge. Girls performed better than boys on three tasks at year 8 level. Non-Mäori students performed better than Mäori students on about one third of the tasks at year 4 level and about two thirds of the tasks at year 8 level. However, year 8 Mäori students performed better than their non-Mäori counterparts on one task (Marae). The three variables relating to school ethnic composition and school socio-economic index are linked to each other, and present an interesting picture. There were statistically significant differences between the three SES (socio-economic index) subgroups for about half of the tasks at year 4 level and about three quarters of the tasks at year 8 level, with students from low SES school consistently performing least well. A similar increasing trend from year 4 to year 8 was found in the analyses comparing the performances of students from schools with low, medium and high proportions of Mäori students. In contrast, a sharply decreasing trend was observed in the analyses comparing the performances of students from schools with lower and higher proportions of Pacific Island students, with a statistically significant difference on only one of twenty-six tasks at year 8 level. In the Social Studies Survey, enthusiasm for social studies as a school subject was found to be higher in schools with higher proportions of Pacific Island students, and also at year 4 level in schools with high proportions of Mäori students. Acknowledgements
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