Education Minister Hon Erica Stanford says nationally consistent assessment and reporting starts this year in primary and intermediate schools.

Students returning to classrooms in 2026 will be assessed and reported on using a single national framework.

The change applies across primary and intermediate schools and is designed to give parents clearer, comparable information on how their children are progressing, regardless of which school they attend.

The new system introduces nationally consistent reporting in reading, writing and maths, supported by twice-yearly progress check-ins.

Parents will receive information on learning progress over time, attendance, phonics achievement, and clear guidance on next learning steps.

Erica Stanford said parents have long asked for clearer reporting and that the new approach responds directly to that concern.

She said consistent information helps parents play an active role in supporting learning at home and allows earlier support when students fall behind.

The framework replaces an assessment system more than 20 years old.

It was developed after consultation with principals and teachers, and trials in 85 schools involving about 12,000 student assessment engagements.

Feedback from participating schools was reported as positive.

The changes also reflect long-standing advice from the Education Review Office and the New Zealand Assessment Institute, which have both called for more reliable and consistent assessment data to support students and system-wide decision making.

For Hibiscus Coast families, the practical impact is clearer, more comparable reports from local schools, even if children move between schools in Orewa, Silverdale, Whangaparaoa, or further afield.

Parents will be able to see progress across the year, not just at a single reporting point.

For students in Years 3–8, the second part of the change introduces twice-yearly progress check-ins using the new SMART progress monitoring tool.

The Minister said the tool is designed to support teacher judgement, not replace it, and is intended to be low-stakes and light-touch.

Consistent reporting across schools will also support targeted help for students.

The Government is rolling out structured literacy and maths intervention teachers, expanding early intervention services, adding 800,000 teacher aide hours, and introducing new learning support coordinators and specialist staff this year.

The Ministry says reporting on other learning areas, values and behaviour will continue as it does now, and schools can keep existing templates if they meet the new national expectations.

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