NCEA Report by Professor Paul Black 2000
Professor Paul Black of King's College, London, was invited to write a report on the proposals for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement in 2000. This page provides a summary and analysis of Professor Black's report, and the report itself is available for download below.
5 Percentile Ranks
The paper argues that the reporting of percentile ranks seems problematic, particularly when they are used for comparison between results gained in different achievement standards whether within or between subjects. Their use will encourage students to attempt standards likely to attract weaker candidates and avoid those which are tempting only for the most able. The only meaningful information will be the grade.
If the percentile rank were to be taken literally the point is valid. However the proposal to report the percentages of students who gain each of the grades uses this in a way which does not undermine the standards base of the grade reporting, but gives a further depth of information. Professor Black makes the point that an attempt to report on actual percentile ranks for each achievement standard would require a precision of judgement which would be counter to the professional judgement described earlier.