Literacy and mathematics testing in Tonga

The research undertaken by ACER Systemwide Testing Research Director, Mr Chris Freeman, is the result of a request by the Tonga Post of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to investigate assessment data from Tonga in association with the Institute of Education of the University of the South Pacific. The analysis centred on two broad areas.

Firstly, it examined what the tests uncover about student learning. It did this by identifying areas where students perform most poorly and analysing whether poor performance is associated with lack of subject knowledge and conceptual understanding, or with the language used in those test items.

Secondly, it examined the teaching and learning processes in classrooms which appear to be associated with better performance on the tests, as well as the kinds of teacher and school support required to bring about changes in learning outcomes.

A further purpose of the research was to demonstrate the types of analyses that can be performed on student data, and the power of the data in providing diagnostic feedback and better quality reports to the relevant stakeholders.

According to Mr Freeman, any conclusions drawn from the analysis should be treated with caution.

‘Since the data provided were neither from a full Tongan cohort nor a systematic random sample of the population it’s not possible to draw inferences about the Tongan Grade 4 population,’ Mr Freeman noted.

‘Mindful of that, the analysis shows there appears currently to be a mismatch between the level of difficulty of the Tongan literacy and mathematics tests and the performance of the sample attempting the tests.’

As AusAID’s demographic and development statistics for Tonga indicate, the island nation has already made significant progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in terms of the goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. Tonga has a net enrolment rate in primary school education of 93 per cent and an adult literacy rate of 99 per cent, according to the AusAID Demographic and development statistics for Tonga (citation needed).