Decile removal wise

The decision to remove decile ratings from Education Review Office reports is a wise one, according to a Tokoroa principal.

Tokoroa North School principal Stephen Blair believes the rating removal is a positive move as they have nothing to do with education quality or outcomes.

‘‘It is not very well understood in the wider community of what a decile is.

‘‘They think a decile 10 is the highest performing but it has nothing to do with that,’’ he said.

ERO chief review officer Dr Graham Stoop made the announcement to drop decile ratings from reports recently in an effort to ‘‘correct the stereotype that a school’s decile equals performance’’.

Mr Blair agrees with ERO’s logic.

‘‘What they are trying to do is correct that misconception that the higher the decile the better the quality so they are just taking that out of the ERO report.’’

When asked whether decile ratings had any other purpose, Mr Blair said: ‘‘No, it is basically a funding mechanism. Purely and simply.’’

Schools are given a decile rating of one to 10, reflecting the proportion of students from low socio-economic communities.

About 10 per cent of schools are in decile one and have the highest proportion of pupils from low socio-economic communities. Lower deciles are allocated higher rates of funding by the Education Ministry.