Whetu CormickEducation Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed primary schools will no longer have to report on National Standards to parents or the Ministry of Education from the new year. Hipkins said reporting would shift from the standards to reporting on children's progress - with reports written in "plain English". "But this reporting will focus on children's progress, rather than measuring them against arbitrary National Standards. Cormick, who is being briefed on the changes by the Ministry of Education, said "narrow measurement systems" such as national standards had failed overseas. "After nine years of national standards and some confusion about national standards data and what that meant, boards of trustees should be able to feel confident that they will continue to receive plain language reports around reading, writing and maths," she said.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 11, 2017 23:15 UTC