: 2002 Writing Report
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An additional feature in national monitoring since 1999 has been the commitment to look directly at the achievement of Pacific students in New Zealand primary and intermediate schools. These students were among the samples in NEMP assessments between 1995 and 1998, but not in sufficient numbers to allow their results to be reported separately. At the request of the Ministry of Education, in each year since 1999 NEMP has selected special additional samples of 120 year 4 students and 120 year 8 students, so that the achievement of Pacific students could be assessed and reported. The augmented samples are too small, however, to allow separate reporting on students from different Pacific nations (such as Samoa, Tonga and Fiji).


All schools in the main NEMP year 8 sample that had 15 percent or more Pacific students (as classified in school records) were selected. All other schools nationally with at least 12 year 8 students and at least 15 percent Pacific students in their total roll were identified, and an additional random sample of 10 schools drawn from this list. A similar procedure was followed at year 4 level, except that schools already chosen at year 8 level were excluded from the sampling list. From each specially sampled school, 12 students (in 3 groups of 4) were sampled, confirmed and assessed using exactly the same procedures as in the main sample. The students’ performances were also scored in the same manner as the performances of students in the main sample.

The results for Pacific, Mäori, and other students in the schools with more than 15 percent Pacific students were then compared. Because all of the schools chosen for these analyses have at least 15 percent Pacific students, the results only apply to students at schools like these.
Differences among the three ethnic groups of students were checked for statistical significance using one way analysis of variance on the overall scores for each task. Each analysis compared the performance of about 45 Pacific students, 25 Mäori students and 35 other students. The critical level for statistical significance was set at p = .05 (so that differences this large or larger among the subgroups would not be expected by chance in more than five percent of cases). Where statistical significance occurred, Tukey tests were used to identify which groups differed significantly.

The mean scores for each group on each task are presented in the tables below, together with the standard deviations for all students in this sample. Statistically significant differences are clearly indicated.
YEAR 4
YEAR 8
Average (mean) marks for year 4 and year 8 students, attending schools enrolling at least fifteen percent Pacific students, who are classified as Pacific students, Mäori students or other students.
Pacif.Is.
Mean
Mäori
Mean
Other
Mean
Overall
Std.Dev
Pacif.Is.
Mean
Mäori
Mean
Other
Mean
Overall
Std.Dev
Writing Tasks
  Writing Tasks
Imagination
2.3
3.7
4.0
2.4
   Imagination
7.2
7.4
7.6
2.9
Spots
9.2
11.1
10.6
3.1
   Spots
9.6
9.9
10.9
3.7
Opinions
11.4
11.1
13.4
4.6
   Opinions
15.4
16.8
16.2
4.6
Te Pötiki
3.7
4.4
4.5
2.2
   Te Pötiki
5.3
5.0
4.9
2.0
A Better Story
2.4
2.4
3.2
1.6
   A Better Story
3.6
4.1
3.9
1.8
Please
2.0
2.0
2.8
1.6
   Please
3.3
2.7
4.1
1.8
 
  Kids These Days
1.4
1.4
1.4
0.8
Link Task 1
5.6
5.3
6.7
2.1
   Link Task 1
6.9
6.9
7.0
1.5
Link Task 2
5.4
4.9
6.7
2.7
   Link Task 2
7.0
7.6
7.7
2.8
Link Task 3
0.7
0.5
0.8
1.0
   Link Task 3
1.7
1.6
1.4
1.2
Link Task 4
1.9
2.2
2.4
1.9
   Link Task 4
4.5
4.9
5.0
1.9
Link Task 5
2.8
3.1
3.4
3.1
   Link Task 5
5.0
4.9
7.2
2.9
Thank You Letter
3.3
3.5
3.9
2.2
   Thank You Letter
6.3
6.7
8.1
3.1
Accident Report
7.5
8.2
8.1
3.0
   Accident Report
11.5
11.4
10.4
2.7
Phone Message
2.0
2.2
3.0
1.8
   Phone Message
3.9
4.0
4.6
2.0
Windmills
1.8
2.7
3.2
2.7
   Windmills
4.9
4.1
6.8
4.1
 
  Email
3.4
4.3
4.8
2.6
Postcard
4.3
4.8
5.5
2.6
   Postcard
8.1
8.0
9.3
3.3
Lost Pet
1.2
1.3
2.0
1.2
   Lost Pet
2.0
2.0
2.3
1.2
 
  Text Message
4.7
5.7
5.4
1.8
Link Task 6
10.3
10.5
10.8
1.5
   Link Task 6
10.8
10.7
11.3
1.1
Link Task 7
0.5
1.0
1.4
1.3
   Link Task 7
2.6
3.1
4.0
2.3
Link Task 8
1.1
1.1
1.5
1.6
   Link Task 8
3.3
3.1
3.6
2.2
Link Task 9
1.4
1.8
2.3
1.5
   Link Task 9
2.7
3.4
3.8
2.0
Link Task 10
7.8
7.6
10.0
4.0
   Link Task 10
11.4
11.8
12.5
3.3
Link Task 11
2.0
1.9
2.1
1.8
   Link Task 11
3.2
3.2
3.9
1.7
Punctuation Check
3.9
4.2
4.6
2.4
    
 
  Spelling
15.5
14.4
17.0
6.3
 
  Spelling Corrections
16.2
12.1
17.3
7.2
Story Edit
0.4
0.8
0.7
0.9
   Story Edit
1.3
1.2
2.5
1.5
 
  Shimbir
14.2
15.3
16.5
5.4
Link Task 12
6.1
6.3
6.9
2.7
   Link Task 12
7.7
7.6
8.0
1.9
Link Task 13
14.1
13.0
17.3
6.4
   Link Task 13
21.6
20.8
20.9
4.4
Link Task 14
0.5
0.6
1.1
0.9
   Link Task 14
1.7
1.6
2.2
1.0
 
  Link Task 15
13.4
13.7
19.3
7.7
Statistically significant (p<.05) differences among the means are shown thus: significantly lower or higher.

For year 4 students, there were statistically significant differences in performance among the three groups on 10 of the 28 tasks. The Pacific students scored lower than the “other” students on 7 tasks and than the Mäori students on 1 task. The Mäori students scored lower than the “other” students on 5 tasks and higher on none. There were also statistically significant differences on two questions of the Writing Survey (p59). Pacific and Mäori students were more positive than “other” students about how good they thought they were at writing (question 2), and Pacific students reported greater use of computers for writing at school than did the “other” students.

For year 8 students, there were statistically significant differences in performance among the three groups on 10 of the 34 tasks. The Pacific students scored lower than the “other” students on 8 tasks, and the Mäori students scored lower than the “other” students on 6 tasks. There were also statistically significant differences on two questions of the Writing Survey (p59). Having brothers or sisters read their writing (question 11) was said to be more common for Pacific students than for Mäori or “other” students, and having friends read their writing (question 12) was said to be more common for Pacific students than for “other” students
Summary
Compared to Mäori and “other” students in schools with more than 15 percent Pacific students, year 4 Pacific students in these schools performed less well than the “other” students on 25 percent of the tasks but similarly to Mäori students. The results for year 8 students were almost identical.
 
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