Exciting step forward for new Assessment and Aromatawai Tool 

15 July, 2025

The Minister of Education announced today that the Ministry has secured a supplier to deliver the new Assessment and Aromatawai Tool for students in Years 3-10 – Janison Solution Pty Ltd.

Parents to know more about child’s school progress | Beehive.govt.nz

The new Tool is named SMART (Student Monitoring Assessment and Report Tool). 

SMART will replace e-asTTle, have up-to-date technology and be aligned with the National Curriculum, enabling twice-yearly assessment of reading, writing, maths, pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau. 

SMART will support learner progress and be responsive to the needs of all Years 3-10 students and mokopuna across New Zealand. It will also help teachers and kaiako carry out low stakes check ins with learners, providing them with the information they need to support a learner through their next steps of learning, and giving parents and whānau confidence about their child’s progress. Having good quality assessment information can also support decision making to get the right resources in place that help accelerate learning for those students who need it.  

SMART builds on the new suite of classroom tools helping parents and whānau understand more about their child’s progress including Phonics Checks, Hihira Weteoro, and in 2026, the Year 2 maths and pāngarau checks.

Based in Australia, Janison is a supplier trusted by governments and educational bodies globally, including jurisdictions comparable to New Zealand. Janison also has proven experience in developing educational services for the New Zealand context. 

The next steps are to work with Janison to complete the development of curriculum aligned assessment items so teachers and kaiako can start using the tool from the beginning of 2026. 

Training and implementation activities will become available in Term 4, 2025 ahead of the Tool being made available to all schools and kura in Term 1, 2026.  

We will continue to provide progress updates on Tāhūrangi.