Using selected NCEA standards to profile senior students’ subject-area literacy

The changing nature of literacy in the senior secondary school means that many common tools do not give subject teachers the detailed information they need to identify and address strengths and gaps in their students’ reading and writing. We illustrate some of the complexities of reading and writing in the senior secondary school and describe one way that teachers and leaders can use NCEA data to find out more about their students’ subject literacy. The approach we describe consists of using a set of Subject Literacy Achievement Standards diagnostically as sensitive indicators of students’ reading in English, mathematics and science.