Our research

This national report presents the findings of ERO’s recent evaluation about the extent to which primary schools were using effective strategies to improve outcomes for priority groups of learners. In this report ‘priority learners’ refers to Māori, Pacific, special needs, and students from low income families, who are not achieving at or above National Standards.

ERO guides for parents have been written for everyone who parents a child - those who have care and responsibility for children attending a school. The booklets include questions you can ask, as well as general information that you may find useful. Click on the booklet to read and download.

How is my child doing? suggests questions parents can ask teachers in primary and secondary schools about their child's learning and wellbeing at school, and what to expect. It also looks at what makes a successful school.

This national report combines current research with findings from recent ERO reports about students' transitions between and through schools. The report discusses the important pastoral care and learning support processes needed for successful transitions.

All children deserve the right to an education including those with special education needs. Through its Success for All policy, the Government expects all schools to demonstrate inclusive practice for children with special education needs by the end of 2014. This report presents the findings of a questionnaire where schools assess their own provisions for students with special education needs. It follows on from a similar report produced in early 2012.

This is ERO's third report on the progress of schools in promoting Pacific student achievement. It tells a similar story to ERO's two previous reports with little evidence of system-wide improvement.

This report, Including Students with Special Needs: school questionnaire responses presents the findings from a questionnaire completed by schools reviewed in the first two terms of 2011. It is based on schools’ own views of how well they include children with special needs.

The evaluation looked at four aspects of international education (schools' self review, pastoral care, quality of education and social integration) and concluded that most schools were highly effective or generally effective in all four aspects.

ERO evaluated how well schools included students with high needs. Approximately three percent of the student population have significant physical, sensory, neurological, psychiatric, behavioural or intellectual impairment. ERO’s evaluation showed that approximately half of the schools in the study demonstrated inclusive practice, while 30 percent had ‘pockets of inclusive practice’ and 20 percent had few inclusive practices.

ERO is interested in what happens in the classroom and also in how parents and the community can help in the education of school students. We have therefore evaluated the way schools engage their parents, whānau and community. The result is a collection of three reports on different aspects of Partners in Learning: the findings of the evaluation; examples of good practice; and the voices of parents. This report sets out the views of parents and others in the community about their role in the education of their children.

This Education Review Office report provides schools and policy makers with examples of how 10 New Zealand secondary schools successfuly support boys' education. The schools in this study were selected on the basis of their good overall levels of student achievement, previous positive ERO reports and their well-developed pastoral care and support strategies. Five boys' schools and five coeducational schools are used as case studies