12297 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Minister of Education

12297 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Minister of Education: Will the standardised assessment tool that schools can use twice a year with children in Years 3-10, which the Ministry of Education has issued a request for proposals (RFP) on, be mandated for use by schools; if so, will it be mandated for use for years 3-10?

Hon Erica Stanford: The Government has announced that all schools and kura will be required to transition to twice-yearly progression monitoring for students in Year 3-8 from 2026. This tool, which will be free for schools and kura to access and use, will help them meet this expectation, if they choose to use it. There has been no decision made on mandating the use of the standardised assessment tool. The Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) are provided by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) and will also continue to be available.