It feels like we're constantly being told that our kids are really bad at math. 

In 2023, we were informed kids recorded their worst ever results in something called the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams. 

It was called "disastrous", "disappointing" -- but, we'd heard it all before. 

In 2020 the 13-year-olds recorded their worst-ever results in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS ... in 2023, almost 60% of Year 8s were failing maths according to something called the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement, or NMSSA. 

In 2024, data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS) showed just 22% of Year 8s were at the expected curriculum benchmark for maths. 

PISA, TIMSS, NMSSA, CIPS. What are all of these? Are Kiwi kids really that bad at maths? Or, is this just a case of cherry-picking from random data sets to suit a certain narrative?  

Today on The Front Page, University of Auckland maths expert Dr Lisa Darragh is with us to try and make sense of all the numbers.