Ms Jacobsen said in a statement released last week MAC students exceeded national pass rates during the 2024 NCEA exams with 90.4% of NCEA level 1 students passing the new literacy and numeracy programme.
The results reflected the college’s strong commitment to academic excellence and willingness to proactively manage curriculum changes, she said.
Earlier in January, RNZ reported half the teens who failed NCEA level 1 did so only because of new literacy and numeracy requirements, while the remainder did not achieve enough credits for the qualification.
Figures provided to RNZ by Education Minister Erica Stanford showed 13,496 year 11s who attempted a full NCEA 1 programme last year fell short while 31,524 were successful.
"Schools have been dealing with a lot of changes to the New Zealand curriculum. We have been an early adopter of these changes, enabling our students and teachers to be well prepared," Mrs Jacobsen said.
"One such change has been the introduction of NCEA level 1. Despite NCEA level 1 numeracy and literacy being an entirely new programme for both our students and teachers, we achieved a pass rate of 90.4% which is an excellent result," she said.
Another MAC goal last year was to "focus even more" on supporting students to achieve endorsement goals.
"Our efforts have paid off with an increase from 6.5% excellence endorsements in 2023 to 18% in 2024," she said.
Gender-based data showed male MAC students achieved higher at NCEA level 2, but lower than female MAC students for NCEA levels 1 and 3 and university entrance.
Ms Jacobsen said this year the school would continue to focus on students as the "whole person" and work to strengthen academic mentoring through its pastoral care system.
"This approach helps our students achieve their personal best, and prepares them for their future tertiary and vocational pathways.
"I am so proud of our students for their effort and resilience in pursuing their studies, and grateful to our staff whose skill and passion provides our students with such exceptional support," she said.
Final results will be published by New Zealand Qualification Authority at the end of February.
— APL
