The floor is falling
To earn any NCEA qualification, students must first pass separate literacy and numeracy co-requisite standards. In 2009, 9 in 10 Year 11 students passed in their first year. By 2024 — after the 2020 curriculum reforms replaced the old standards with harder ones — fewer than 6 in 10 pass numeracy in Year 11. Who’s being left behind?
16 years of literacy & numeracy
The national trend, 2009–2024. Current year shows first-time passers each year — this is where the 2024 reform impact is most visible. Cumulative shows how many have ever passed by that year level, including re-sits. Switch year levels to see how students catch up over time, or switch to Ethnicity or Gender view for group comparisons.
Who is being left behind?
For a selected year and group breakdown, how does the pass rate vary? The equity story here is stark — low-decile and “fewer resources” schools consistently show much lower current-year pass rates, meaning more students must spend Years 12 and 13 catching up on the co-requisite instead of advancing.
Equity group format changed in 2019: pre-2019 uses school decile bands (1–3, 4–7, 8–10); 2019+ uses equity index groups (Fewer/Moderate/More resources). Each breakdown is single-dimensional — no cross-tabulation.