Common Assessment Activities (CAA)
What is the NCEA Co-requisite?
The Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite (Common Assessment Activity - CAA) is the mandatory requirement for a student to be awarded any NCEA qualification (Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3). - Students must pass three assessments: two for Literacy (Reading and Writing) and one for Numeracy.
The Skills Assessed: Beyond the Classroom
The co-requisite standards (CAA) cover foundational skills, aiming for approximately Level 4/5 of The New Zealand Curriculum. This means students are expected to not only know the content but to apply it flexibly and confidently. The assessments are available in English and Te Reo.
Literacy Co-requisite (Reading & Writing) or Te Reo Matatini (10 Credits)
Students are assessed on their ability to communicate and comprehend effectively across various contexts. Key skills include:
- Reading (5 credits): Making sense of written texts, reading critically for different purposes, and extracting ideas and information.
- Writing (5 credits):Communicating meaningful ideas, structuring texts clearly for different audiences, and using correct language conventions (like punctuation and spelling) to support understanding.
Unit Standards covered: US32403 and US32405. Te Reo Matatini unit standards: 32413 (Te Reo Torohū) and 32415 (Te Reo Whakaputa).
Numeracy Co-requisite or Pāngarau (10 Credits)
This standard requires students to master Level 4 mathematics and statistics content and interweave these ideas with real-world problem-solving processes. Key skills include:
- Problem Solving: Fluently and flexibly solving problems using numbers, understanding their relative size, and interpreting the answer in context.
- Understanding:Working with mathematical relationships, using spatial properties and representations, and understanding location and navigation systems.
- Data and Chance: Using numbers and units for measurement with appropriate precision, and reasoning with statistics, data, and probability.
Unit Standards covered: US32403 and US32405. Te Reo Matatini unit standards: 32413 (Te Reo Torohū) and 32415 (Te Reo Whakaputa).
(Unit Standard covered: US32406; Pāngarau US32412)
The Common Assessment Activity (CAA)
What Does it Mean?
The Common Assessment Activity (CAA) is the name given to the online, external assessments used to measure the Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite standards.
These digital exams are organised and supervised by the school. They are how students demonstrate they have achieved these essential foundational skills.
- Online Digital Exams: The CAAs are delivered as online assessments sat at school.
- Students sit three separate CAAs: Numeracy, Literacy (Reading), and Literacy (Writing).
- While each assessment generally takes around 60 minutes to complete, it is important to know that students are not limited by time to finish them and can as long as they need. Provisions are made for Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) where necessary.
- The CAAs are offered as unit standard exams twice during the academic year. The CAAs will be held in May and September each year.
The grading for the CAA is straightforward: - The only possible grades are Achieved or Not Achieved. - There are no Merit or Excellence grades available. - Achieving these standards does not count toward NCEA endorsements (Merit/Excellence). - The school does not receive the test papers or direct feedback from NZQA. Feedback is private and sent directly to the student's NZQA Login page. (We rely on students to log in and show their feedback to teachers so we can provide the best possible support.) (Student NZQA Login Page)
Resits and Alternative Pathways
Success is our goal, and we want to remove barriers to achievement. - No Limit to Success: Once a student passes a CAA, they never need to sit it again. However, if a student attains a Not Achieved grade, they will have subsequent opportunities to resit the assessment. There is no maximum number of times a student can attempt the CAAs. They will simply be scheduled for the next available opportunity.
Preparation and Support
Achieving the Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite is a shared responsibility. Here is how our school supports students, and how you can reinforce their learning at home.
Our Schoolwide Approach to Literacy and Numeracy
Our commitment is to embed these essential skills across the entire curriculum, ensuring students see their relevance everywhere.
Integrated Learning: We don't limit Literacy and Numeracy to specific subjects.Teachers integrate these skills across all learning areas, from Science to Technology, so students can apply their knowledge in a variety of contexts.
Explicit Teaching: Our Year 9, 10 and 11 English and Mathematics programmes are explicitly structured with CAA tasks and preparation woven into the curriculum. Students in Y10 are issued with texts that can be used in CAA preparation. In addition, there are google classrooms set up for extra resources in all three standards. There are also opportunities to practice online.
- Targeted Support: Data on student progress is shared across subjects, allowing staff to identify and support students who may need extra help. We offer dedicated literacy and numeracy booster classes before the assessments. In the senior years at WHS, success in the CAA will determine subject choices to ensure that students without Literacy and Numeracy still have the opportunity to receive teaching towards the CAA or gain them through the standards.
What does ‘readiness for the CAA’ mean?
- Checking Readiness: We use diagnostic tools, such as e-asTTle, the PATs (Progressive Achievement Tests in reading and mathematics), and alongside teacher observation and professional judgment. These tools inform our teaching and help us assess student readiness to sit the CAAs (in Term 2 and Term 3 for Year 10 -13 students).
- e-asTTle scores correlate closely with NZ Curriculum levels. The bands have 3 levels of descriptors - Basic, Proficient and Advanced. National data indicates that students with an e-asTTle score of 4A and above at Year 10 are most likely to succeed at CAA. (see diagram below). For this reason, we do not automatically enter every student into the first round of CAA as some students may need a little more time to be ready. We do like to ‘give students a go’ and therefore, by the end of Year 10, most students would have been given the opportunity to do the CAA. After Year 10 students are generally automatically entered.
Preparing for the CAA Digital Exam Platform
This is a digital assessment. Students in Year 10 will be shown how to set up an NZQA account. To set up the account students will be issued with their National Student Number (NSN) and will need to set up a school e-mail account. For this account students must use their school password and school e-mail. Once the account is set up, it can be used throughout their school career. Students who arrive from other schools need to check with the Academic Dean that their account has been transferred.
In order to be properly prepared, students need to bring their devices every single day. The log in process is online, and generally all the practice sessions are online as well. The link below also shows what the actual digital platform looks like. It also allows students to practise scrolling and moving about on the platform. This is a great resource and allows students to go in feeling confident that they know what to do. Preparing for Digital Assessments
These assessments also come with a built in text-to-speech application called Polly. This means that in the Writing and Numeracy Assessments, students can connect their headphones and have the text read to them by a computer generated voice. This is useful for those who like to hear the questions, rather than just reading it.
Students who do not have devices need to inform the Academic Dean as soon as possible. Arriving on the day without a working, compatible device is not the outcome that we need at all. Here is a useful checklist for all students taking digital exams.
Partners in Preparation: What You Can Do at Home
The single most effective strategy for success is consistent practice. Here are some handy hints for how you can help students to prepare for the CAA:
Examples of Past Papers
These can be found on the NZQA public website for digital exams. - NSN:View2024 - Verification code: Tw3nty/24 - Access code: 0000
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When will my child take the CAAs?
The Common Assessment Activities are offered as external unit standard exams twice during the academic year in May and September. The specific dates for our Year 10 and other students are publicised in the school calendar.
Do the Literacy and Numeracy standards count towards NCEA Level 1 credits?
These are the essential co-requisite standards for achieving NCEA at any level (Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3). The 10 Literacy and 10 Numeracy credits are separate from the 60-credit requirement for NCEA Level 1. They are only graded as Achieved or Not Achieved. NZQA NCEA Qualification Requirements
If my child gets ‘Not Achieved’, what happens next?
They will have future opportunities to demonstrate the standard. There is no maximum number of times a student can sit the Common Assessment Activities. They will be scheduled for the next available resit opportunity.
Do these assessments count towards the 60 credits for NCEA Level 1?
The new co-requisite sits outside the 60-credit requirement.
Do Literacy & Numeracy need to be passed again for Level 2 or Level 3?
No. Once achieved, the co-requisite applies to all future NCEA levels.
Can students get Merit or Excellence?
No. The only grades are Achieved or Not Achieved.
Is there a time limit for the CAAs?
No. While each of the three assessments takes around 60 minutes, students have no time limit to complete the online assessment. They can take the time they need to demonstrate their skills. Most students easily finish within two school periods.
How will I know what my child needs to work on if they get ‘Not Achieved’?
The school does not receive the test papers or direct feedback from NZQA. However, students receive individual, personalised feedback on their NZQA login page. We encourage them to log in and share this feedback with their Mathematics and English teachers so we can provide the most targeted support.
What if my child is not ready?
We provide extensive school-wide support, teacher guidance, booster classes, and practice resources.
Who should we talk to if we have questions?
Start with your child’s English or Mathematics teacher, or contact the Academic Dean.