The assessments included sixteen tasks which investigated students under-standings, processes and skills in the area of mathematics called measurement. Measurement includes knowledge, understanding and use of systems of measurement, the use of measurement apparatus, and processes of predicting, calculating and recording.

Five tasks were identical for both year 4 and year 8. Eight tasks had overlapping versions for year 4 and year 8 students, with some parts common to both levels and others which were added for either year 4 or year 8 students. Two tasks were attempted by year 8 students only, and one by year 4 only. Six of the sixteen tasks have been selected as link tasks to be used again in the year 2001, and therefore are not described in detail here. The other tasks are released tasks for which full details are given.

The chapter presents the assessment tasks in the following order:

A representative range of measurement systems, processes and applications was covered in the set of tasks attempted by students. The results very clearly show the substantial progress made from year 4 to year 8, with on average about 30 percent more year 8 students than year 4 students achieving success on task components common to both year levels. A moderate percentage of year 8 students showed abilities to estimate and accurately read or calculate measurements, while many year 4 students struggled to obtain good approximations or accurate readings. At both levels students' skills of reading measurements were generally stronger than those of making good estimations. Moderate to low percentages of year 8 and year 4 students demonstrated abilities to effectively plan and explain processes and strategies for making and checking measurements in tasks involving length, volume, and weight (mass). A high percentage of year 8 students were skilful in the literal reading of calendar dates, but many had difficulty when calendar calculations were required.