Assessment and Reporting Guidance; guidance, progress descriptors, and mapping tables now available

5 May 2025

New guidance on effectively reporting to parents and whānau on student and ākonga progress, achievement and success is now available on Tāhūrangi. The guidance speaks directly to the refreshed English learning area and Te Reo Rangatira wāhanga ako for years 0-6 and Maths and statistics learning area and Pāngarau wāhanga ako for years 0-8.

It includes:

• advice about assessment and aromatawai for the remainder of 2025
• interim progress descriptors for teachers that align student and ākonga progress with the refreshed NZ curriculum and the redesigned Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
• mapping tables showing how e-asTTle and Te Waharoa Ararau (TWA) results align with the refreshed curricula and the year level expectations. 
• information about standardised assessment tools for 2025
• a statement from the Ministry that schools can use when reporting to parents, explaining the transition from one curricula to another, and the impact this may appear to have on student progress.

Assessment Guidance

This year the focus is on continuing to develop and embed quality assessment and reporting practices in schools. Good assessment practice sees teachers and kaiako effectively monitoring, responding to, and reporting on student progress and achievement information in reliable, consistent ways.

At least twice a year, schools and kura are required to report to students, their parents, and their whānau in plain language on the student’s progress and achievement across the curriculum and in literacy and mathematics.

There are no changes to these requirements, but schools are now required to report progress against the new English Years 0-6 and mathematics & statistics Years 0-8 learning areas. Guidance on this is provided in the section below. For all other learning areas, including English Years 7-13 and mathematics & statistics Years 9-13, schools should continue to report against the New Zealand Curriculum 2007.

Guidance for New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

Interim Progress Descriptors

We are providing a set of draft descriptors for teachers to support consistent reporting to parents across all schools and kura. They are designed to support teachers to determine student progress against the new curriculum expectations. They will give teachers consistent language to report clearly to parents and whānau. In the future these descriptors will be matched with a set of graphics for parents to show the progress and achievement of each child in relation to curriculum expectations in twice–yearly reporting.

There is no requirement to use these descriptors during 2025, but schools and kura could choose to do so.

We are asking for feedback on the draft descriptors, so that they can be further developed with input from the sector.

Feedback on the descriptors should be sent to [email protected], by 30 June 2025.

Reporting to parents and whānau - guidance for New Zealand Curriculum 

Reporting to parents and whānau - guidance for Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
 

Mapping Tables

The mapping tables show how results from e-asTTle and Te Waharoa Ararau (TWA) map against the new learning areas and wāhanga ako, so teachers and kaiako can evaluate progress against the new curriculum phase and year levels. See below for an example of mapping results from e-asTTle.

• Link to the NZC, e-asTTle – Interim mapping table
• Link to the TMoA, Ngā Tūtohi Whakahāngai i TWA me te e-asTTle ki TMoA 2025 (TWA and e-asTTle Alignment Tables for TMoA 2025)

Mapping table examples:

This work is all part of a wide range of assessment and aromatawai activity underway at the Ministry, which is focussed on making sure teachers and kaiako have access to reliable tools and supports. The introduction of the Phonics Checks and Hihira Weteoro for students in their early years of school or kura is the first of these new tools. 

At the same time, the first stage to deliver a new tool for assessment and aromatawai is underway.  A recent review showed e-asTTle had technical limitations and that the content does not align to current curriculum expectations. For these reasons further investment in e-asTTle wasn’t viable and instead the Ministry is looking at the option of a new tool to meet the needs of assessing student progress against the updated curricula, and considering providers who may be able to work on a dual language tool covering years 3-10.  Read more about these developments in this Tāhūrangi news story. 

It's anticipated the new tool will be ready for use by 2026, with training and support available to help teachers and kaiako to start using it during Term 4, 2025. This new tool will eventually replace e-asTTle.

Standardised assessment tools for 2025

There is no requirement to use any tool this year.

However the use of tools such as e-asTTle, Te Waharoa Ararau and PATs, JAM and DIBELS, and the new phonics checks will support teachers – alongside their other assessment practises – to report accurately so that parents can understand their students’ progress and next steps.

Progression monitoring for reading, writing and maths or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau, for students and ākonga in years 3-8 should continue, so that reporting to parents can be done at least twice a year.

This year, the content and scoring within e-asTTle and the reports generated by e-asTTle will not change. The mapping tables show alignment across the existing e-asTTle sub-levels and scale scores, and the refreshed phase/tūārere and year-level expectations/tau kura of the New Zealand Curriculum (2024) and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

Teachers and kaiako should use these tables to inform assessment, instructional decisions, and reporting. These tables serve as an interim measure, helping teachers and kaiako to transition smoothly to the updated curricula while a new curriculum-aligned assessment and aromatawai tool is being developed.

For those learning through te Reo Māori, these supports will enable kaiako to map e-asTTle results to the year (tau) expectations for ākonga in these areas and to easily compare results between e-asTTle and results within Te Waharoa Ararau against the redesigned Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

For kaiako and teachers not using e-asTTle or PATs we will be providing additional guidance and resources to provide further support to report against the new learning areas and wāhanga ako.

Statement for Schools

The Ministry has developed a statement that schools may choose to use when reporting to parents, highlighting that the transition between old and new curriculum may impact on reported student achievement.