Around half of students who took part in a second NCEA pilot achieved the new literacy and numeracy standards.
The standards will be mandatory from next year for students to gain a NCEA qualification.
More than 21,000 students took part in the September pilot, which came after the first assessment pilot in June last year.
Students from 13 schools with Māori medium education were involved in piloting the new Te Reo Matatini and Pāngarau standards, while 198 schools, seven tertiary or alternative education providers and seven schools from the Cook Islands and Niue were involved in the literacy and numeracy standards assessments.
The majority of high school participants were in Year 10, at 82%.
Literacy (reading) achievement decreased from 64% in June to 58% in September, while achievement increased for literacy (writing) from 34% to 46%.
Numeracy results changed slightly from 56% in June to 57% in September.
Te Reo Matatini achievement rates changed from 23.7% in June to 43.5% in September and Pāngarau results improved too, from 17.9% achievement in June to 30.2% in September.
"It is important to be aware that limited conclusions can be drawn from comparisons of achievement rates due to the small numbers of ākonga," an evaluation report released today states, with 124 students taking part in the latest Te Reo Matatini pilot and 149 taking part in the second Pāngarau test.
The evaluation report states the results reflect inequity in New Zealand education, with addressing digital equity a recommendation from the latest pilot.
"Disproportionate access to digital devices may be a contributing factor to inequitable achievement rates in the Literacy and Numeracy assessments for low decile schools and some Māori and Pasifika students."
The pilot is following a digital-first approach but the sector has asked for flexibility, the report stated.
New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the Ministry of Education has been recommended to consider providing access to paper question booklets and assessments for some students.
Other key recommendations included addressing technical issues with the roll out such as upgrading computer systems in some schools, providing more support for schools with more guidance resources, and considering addressing the added staffing pressure as a result of assessments requiring supervision.
Schools were advised that the minimum level of student readiness for the tests was late Level 4/early Level 5 of the New Zealand curriculum.
"Selecting students based on readiness created a tension for some schools where 'selecting' students felt at odds with other more inclusive approaches in their schools, such as discontinuing academic streaming," the evaluation report stated.
The pilot results show the decile and ethnicity groups of students with lower achievement also had lower levels of readiness for the tests, based on existing e-asTTLE test data.
"It is likely that this is due to many schools taking a Year level approach rather than a readiness approach to selecting students," the report stated.
"The pattern of results shown in the pilot provides an understanding that there will be inequitable impacts on particular students and schools as a result of a Year level selection approach."
The evaluation says this should be considered carefully when making decisions on what students should participate and when.
Students will have several opportunities to pass the literacy and numeracy standards throughout their NCEA study if they do not achieve them the first time.
The Ministry of Education states on the NCEA Education website
"We will also explore the development of additional tools for kaiako such as learner facing resources, which is what schools and kura are telling us they need," it stated.
The new standards are the result of the sector and students giving feedback in 2018 that more work needs to be done in NCEA to ensure students leave school with the literacy and numeracy skills to be successful in life.
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