Health and physical education 2013

In 2013 the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement assessed student achievement in two learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum–health and physical education, and mathematics and statistics. This report focuses on health and physical education. Summary The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement–Wānangatia Te Putanga Tauira–is designed to assess and understand student achievement across the New Zealand Curriculum at Year 4 and Year 8 in New Zealand’s English-medium state schools. The main purposes of National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement are: • to provide a snapshot of student achievement against the New Zealand Curriculum; • to identify factors that are associated with achievement; • to assess strengths and weaknesses across the curriculum; • to measure change in student achievement over time; and • to provide high quality, robust information for policy makers, curriculum planners and educators. National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement assessed achievement inhealth and physical education in two ways: by using a measure of Critical Thinking in Health and Physical Education; and descriptive reporting of students’ understanding of well-being, and the demonstration of a range of movement and strategic action skills within the contexts of games, and movement sequences. The Critical Thinking in Health and Physical Education achievement measure was aligned to the levels of the New Zealand Curriculum.Other data related to students’, teachers’ and principals’views of  teaching and learning in health and physical education were also collected via questionnaires. &nbsp

Matthew effects in young readers:reading comprehension and reading experience aid vocabulary development

The authors report data from a longitudinal study of the reading development of children who were assessed in the years of their 8th, 11th, 14th, and 16th birthdays. They examine the evidence for Matthew effects in reading and vocabulary between ages 8 and 11 in groups of children identified with good and poor reading comprehension at 8 years. They also investigate evidence for Matthew effects in reading and vocabulary between 8 and 16 years, in the larger sample. The poor comprehenders showed reduced growth in vocabulary compared to the good comprehenders, but not in word reading or reading comprehension ability. They also obtained lower scores on measures of out-of-school literacy. Analyses of the whole sample revealed that initial levels of reading experience and reading comprehension predicted vocabulary at ages 11, 14, and 16 after controlling for general ability and vocabulary skills when aged 8. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the influence of reading on vocabulary development