The government has announced mandatory reading, writing and maths tests for primary schools.
From next year, schools will be required to test the ability of five year olds to link sounds and letters at 20 and 40 weeks of schooling.
From years 3-8, schools would have to test children's reading, writing and maths twice a year using either e-asTTle or Progressive Assessment Tests (PATs).
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the tests could not be used to create league tables.
"It's not our intention to pit schools against each other, this data is for parents to know how their kids are going, teachers to inform practice, and as a a system to know how we're tracking."
Most schools already used tests, but the practice was not consistent and some teachers did not use the results well to inform the next steps in children's learning, Stanford said.
"There are some schools who are not using assessment at all, but, more importantly, it's the way that the assessment is used to inform teaching practice and so ERO [Education Review Office] have been saying for more than a decade now, in fact probably about 25 years, that we need to have a consistent tool and that we need to build capability in the sector and that's what we're going to be providing."
About 60 percent of schools already used e-asTTle and about 1000 used PATs, Stanford said.
The tests would ensure parents were accurately informed about children's progress, she said.
"We expect that parents will be reported to in a clear and consistent way with really rich data so that they know how their children are progressing. It's also for the teacher to use in the classroom to inform their teaching practice and importantly for the principal and the board to know how they're tracking as a school. For us as a system, we need to know an aggregate level how are we tracking as a country," she said.
"These are just the first steps. We're also looking at some other checks that could be done at critical milestones to ensure that parents know all the way through their child's journey how they are progressing."
The phonics tests for new-entrants would support the government's decision to mandate the use of structured literacy approaches to teaching reading.
Stanford said the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study, which provided a national view of literacy and numeracy against the New Zealand Curriculum, would be expanded from 2025 to assess reading, writing and maths annually for students in years 3, 6 and 8.
Look back at what the prime minister and education minister had to say in the press conference here:
