Low-decile South Auckland school gets big thumbs up

Metro magazine has named a decile-one Catholic school for girls in South Auckland as the school most likely to improve its students’ academic performance.

In its annual Best Schools issue, Metro has named McAuley High School in Otahuhu at the top of its list.

Editor Simon Wilson says the main measure that was used was University Entrance.

“UE is not an exam, but all students leave school having been judged on whether they have reached a standard that will allow them to go to university.

“It’s a standards-based measure, and it’s universal. UE applies across all the assessment systems, including NCEA, Cambridge and IB,” Wilson said.

Metro measured whether schools had increased or decreased the chances of their students getting UE, by comparing each school to others in its decile range.

McAuley came top of this measure, followed by St Mary’s College in St Mary’s Bay, Sacred Heart College in Glendowie, Dilworth School in Epsom and Carmel College on the North Shore.

The magazine also reported on absolute pass rates. The school where the highest proportion of school leavers had UE was Auckland International College in the central city, followed closely by Diocesan School for Girls and St Cuthbert’s College, both in Epsom, Kristin School on the North Shore and King’s College in Otahuhu.

“The relative scores are especially important,” Wilson said.

“Imagine for a moment that a school has a neutral effect on achievement. If that were the case, students would enter and leave the school at the same level of ability, relative to all their peers. What we’ve done is measure how likely it is that students in each school will do better than they would without the influence of the school.”

Mr Wilson said the achievements of McAuley High School and some other low-decile schools were especially significant. “They show that it is not inevitable for students in low-decile schools to fail,” he said.

“McAuley does outstandingly well with its students. Others, sadly, do not. We hope the lessons of the successful low-decile schools can be applied to those that are failing.”