NZQA commissioned this review to provide an independent evaluation of its Automated Text Scoring (ATS) model and to support decisions about its continued use in marking assessments for the corequisite Literacy Writing standard 32405. The review examined model marking performance across Assessment Event 2, 2025 (AE2 2025) and Assessment Event 1, 2026 (AE1 2026) alongside the quality assurance, human marking, and retraining processes, and considered the potential transferability of the ...

The purpose of this report is to present an independent analysis of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s (NZQA’s) Automated Text Scoring (ATS) model.1 It evaluates the model’s performance, bias/fairness, and readiness for marking literacy writing assessments associated with US 32405, as well as its potential transferability to other assessment standards. 

The commercial marking model was used for live scoring in both the 2025 assessment events (AE1 and AE2). To date ...

This report details the methodology and analysis underpinning a recent research summary produced for a school audience. The summary and the overall study explored students’ experiences of discrimination and how school, teacher, and student practices are associated with, and mitigate, those experiences. 

The study used Wellbeing@School (W@S) student survey data collected between 2023 and 2025 from 108,379 students across 643 New Zealand primary, intermediate, and secondary schools. We explored ...

In 2025, Te Arahou o Aotearoa—the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC) commissioned Te Wāhanga, the Māori research unit of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), to evaluate the MAC kaupapa.  

MAC is a nationwide kaupapa that provides professional learning and support for primary, intermediate, and secondary school principals. It was established in 2013 to help school leaders develop the conditions in which ākonga Māori can thrive and achieve ...

This literature review is the first output of the Curriculum in Practice project and informs subsequent stages of our research. The review had two main aims:

• to understand the New Zealand Curriculum update’s “direction of travel” in relation to selected international jurisdictions
• to synthesise literature about teachers’ and school leaders’ curriculum making and curriculum sensemaking.

It also examines:

• the origins and debates around “knowledge-rich” curriculum approaches
• themes from jurisdictions with ...

This is the second report from the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools, and focuses on secondary teacher perspectives (the first report focused on principals and is available here).  

NZCER collected data from teachers in all English-medium secondary schools (including composite schools and teen parent units) between Term 4 2025 and early Term 1 2026.  After data cleaning, 830 teacher responses from 126 schools were included in analysis ...

Teachers as data navigators is a study that aims to provide a national snapshot of primary and intermediate teachers’ data capabilities, and to understand how schools use data when making decisions aimed at improving teaching, learning, and equity. 

The research question that guided our study was: How do primary and intermediate teachers perceive their data capabilities and their use of data when making decisions about improving teaching and learning? 

A ...

This first report from the 2025 National Survey of Secondary Schools provides a snapshot of secondary principals' perspectives amidst a period of significant change for the education sector. A second report covering findings from secondary teachers is available here.  

In this publication, NZCER presents findings from a survey of 106 secondary principals in Aotearoa – a broadly representative sample of the wider population. The next national survey of ...

This report was produced by NZCER for the COVID-19 Lessons Learned Royal Commission | Te Tira Ārai Urutā. It provides an evidence-based view of whether COVID-19–related school disruptions have affected student learning in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

To do this, NZCER has analysed Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) data for mathematics and reading comprehension to estimate the effect of COVID‑19–era school closures on achievement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland is compared ...

How schools report to parents and whānau has a statistically significant impact on schools’ approaches to supporting positive behavior, wellbeing, and attendance – three crucial support systems identified in the 2024 National Survey of Schools.  

In this research brief, NZCER explores how assessment and reporting practices shape and influence these support systems, with a particular focus on attendance – one of the five Common Components (updated from four ...