After a few months off from writing, my schedule has cleared up a bit. So now I can get into another topic which I've been exploring for the past few years. That topic is digital pedagogy. To start, I'd like to offer my own definition of digital pedagogy. Pedagogy is the art and science of … Continue reading Digital Pedagogy – Introduction
New Zealand – Innovative Learning Environments (ILE)
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend some time at two of the most innovative schools in New Zealand: Hobsonville Point Secondary School and Albany Senior High School. I joined a team of teachers I work with from a local high school. Their school is starting construction on a new building. Here's a … Continue reading New Zealand – Innovative Learning Environments (ILE)
NZ Schooling Description – Part 2: Curriculum & National Testing
Let's just get the exciting and powerful information out here at the start. The entire New Zealand education curriculum is standards-based and students very rarely earn "grades" for courses. Now that I've described the technicals of schooling in New Zealand, I want to explain the curriculum. It is very different than the curricula found in … Continue reading NZ Schooling Description – Part 2: Curriculum & National Testing
NZ Schooling Description – Part 1: School Age, School Year, Timetables, and Transitions
Before I get into my hypotheses about why NZ students, on average, perform better on the PISA assessments, and before I begin to explain my thoughts on effective digital pedagogies, I need to describe the NZ school system from a perspective within the schools in order to build a context. School Age All eligible students may … Continue reading NZ Schooling Description – Part 1: School Age, School Year, Timetables, and Transitions
Hypotheses 1 & 2 – Falling PISA scores
Here we are. After a few posts describing the history, structure, and reforms of schools in New Zealand, I finally get to my first hypothesis regarding the falling PISA scores. Just as a recap, here's what the reading scores look like over time for New Zealand and comparable countries. The PISA scores have been falling … Continue reading Hypotheses 1 & 2 – Falling PISA scores
Housing and School Choice
Here we go. I think this is my last post before I can link all of these posts together into a single hypothesis. Before I go further, I should clarify that the following points are from the Auckland perspective. There are many areas of the country where school choice and housing haven't been as significant. … Continue reading Housing and School Choice
School funding in New Zealand
I'm slowly getting to my first hypothesis regarding the decline in the New Zealand PISA scores. Before I can fully explain hypothesis 1, though, I need to describe a few more factors relating to schooling in New Zealand. I promise my hypothesis 1 is coming soon. I also promise that I'll soon get into the … Continue reading School funding in New Zealand
History and Organization of NZ Schools
The U.S. and New Zealand educational systems have similar histories. Both have complex histories that include discrimination, reform, and power struggles. The New Zealand system is different from the U.S. system in one major way, though: size. The U.S. system actually has over 50 educational systems that are similar, but slightly different. The New Zealand system has … Continue reading History and Organization of NZ Schools
A Brief History of New Zealand
Now that I've spent some time talking about quantitative data from PISA, I want to take a step back and describe the history of New Zealand. Before I can get into my hypotheses as to why New Zealand performs better on PISA and also why the NZ scores are dropping, it is important to understand … Continue reading A Brief History of New Zealand
Math Performance: PISA2012
The 2012 PISA assessment focused heavily on math. Below are the relevant graphs and discussion. Score Distributions Both of these graphs come from the PISA2012 Results Volume 1 document. From these two graphs, we can see that New Zealand and the U.S. have approximately the same percentage of students below Level 2 mean scores in … Continue reading Math Performance: PISA2012
Robert E. Lang, Ed.D. 