NCEA Level 1 Mathematics 91944 — Statistical Enquiry

Standard 91944 is worth 5 credits at NCEA Level 1 and is internally assessed across the school year (no external exam). It is one of the four achievement standards in the new Level 1 Mathematics & Statistics matrix introduced under the NCEA Change Programme, and contributes towards Level 1 numeracy when delivered alongside the Common Assessment Activity.

Based on the first full national cohort in 2024, the pass rate (Achieved + Merit + Excellence) was 80.5% across 38,008 candidates. Merit + Excellence combined was 28.6%. Because 91944 only had its first full assessment in 2024, treat these numbers as a baseline rather than a long-running trend — re-check them annually as NZQA publishes more data.

The strongest student investigations tend to use real, locally relevant data — school sport stats, climate data from NIWA, Stats NZ surveys, Pasifika community surveys, or simple in-class measurements (reaction times, hand spans). Avoid investigations that rely on small, made-up datasets, or yes/no survey questions that produce only categorical data with two values — there is not enough variation for students to describe centre, spread or shape, which limits the analysis they can write.

Plan for a written report of roughly 1,000–1,500 words plus 2–3 visualisations. The standard rewards depth of statistical reasoning, not length — examiners flag reports that pad with screenshots or unnecessary commentary. Train students to spend more time on the analysis and conclusion sections than on plan or data collection, where most students lose marks by under-explaining their source.

Students describing graphs as standalone observations ("the bar is higher", "there is a peak around 20") without ever connecting back to the original investigative question. The fix is explicit scaffolding: every analysis paragraph must follow a three-step pattern — name a feature (centre, spread, shape, unusual value), use a specific value from the data, then explain what it means for the original question in context. Build a single shared exemplar paragraph in week 1 and refer back to it every lesson.

91944 is the data-focused achievement standard in the new four-standard Level 1 matrix. Most departments pair it with 91945 (Aotearoa-context maths problems, also internal) early in the year, then use Term 3 and Term 4 to prepare students for the two external standards — 91946 (mathematical reasoning in context) and 91947 (mathematical reasoning). The two internals together give students a 10-credit buffer before the externals, which is why most schools front-load 91944 in Term 1 or 2.

Plan for roughly 5–6 weeks of timetabled lessons. The standard is internally assessed, so you control the pacing — most schools run 2 weeks of statistical enquiry process teaching, 1–2 weeks of guided investigation work, then 2 weeks of independent investigation and write-up. Avoid compressing it into less than 4 weeks: students need at least one feedback cycle on a draft before submission to lift the Achieved cohort towards Merit.

NZQA publishes annotated student exemplars for every internal standard at nzqa.govt.nz under 'View standard 91944 → Internal Assessment Resources & Exemplars'. Because 91944 is a relatively new standard, also check the Te Poutāhū Curriculum Centre and NZAMT for community-shared exemplars — these are particularly useful for calibrating the boundary between Merit and Excellence, which examiners report is the hardest call in the new Level 1 matrix.