Our research

ERO was approached by principals from Kahukura to document and evaluate their community of practice in Christchurch. This report identifies what is working well for this community of practice, areas where they might consider further enhancements, and lessons and insights into practices which could be shared with others.

This short report accompanies our report Exploring Collaboration in Action: Kahukura Community of Practice.  It looks at the lessons that can be learnt from the Kahukura community of practice, drawing out key lessons on collaboration and providing seven key implications for schools who are interested in collaborating to consider.

To support teaching science in the early years, ERO talked to 147 early childhood services across New Zealand to find out what is happening for learners, and to identify good practice. This short guide draws on this work to help early childhood education leaders and kaiako understand what makes a difference for science in early childhood education and identify how they could strengthen science teaching and learning in their service.

Learning science in the preschool years helps children become better problem solvers and critical thinkers. This short guide aims to help parents and whānau of children in early childhood education to understand why science matters for this age group, know what to expect for science teaching and learning for their child, and think about how they can support their child’s science learning journey.

This report shares teaching approaches and strategies for Year 5 to Year 11 that ERO has identified in a range of schools where students were found to be highly engaged in science. This report should be seen as a resource for leaders and teachers looking to strengthen their teaching of science. It looks at Years 5-11 as they are the critical years for science engagement before learners make final choices on whether to continue in science.

This report explains strategies for supporting secondary students’ engagement during the Covid‑19 pandemic. These strategies include re-engaging students who present with wellbeing concerns or show signs of disengagement. The report also includes some innovative actions schools used to promote student engagement after the first lockdown in 2020.

This short guide is for school leaders and teachers in schools with secondary-aged students. It covers what we found from talking to schools in 2020 about the impact of Covid-19, and shares strategies used by schools to respond to the challenges they faced. It also sets out some actions that could be considered for continuing to support students, parents, whānau and staff in 2021.

This case study report features experiences of three Kāhui Ako and includes the strategies and approaches used to create, build, and strengthen collaboration between schools and early learning services to improve outcomes for learners.

This case study report features experiences of three Kāhui Ako and includes the strategies and approaches used to create, build, and strengthen collaboration between schools and early learning services to improve outcomes for learners.

This evaluation studies effective practice in schools’ senior curriculum. It contributes to the review being undertaken by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The Ministry-led review focuses on the implementation of NCEA as the national assessment system for the senior years of secondary schooling. 

Improvement in Action brings to life ERO’s School Evaluation Indicators and illustrates what works to achieve successful outcomes for all children and young people in the education system.

The case studies complement the video sequences in Improvement in Action.

The findings of this evaluation highlight improvements to the quality and consistency of the RTLB service, especially in overall governance and management. 

The collection of videos and publications is called Improvement in Action and illustrates what works to achieve successful outcomes for all children and young people in the education system.

This publication is designed to support Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako by bringing together research findings about effective collaboration in education communities. It is supported by the publication Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako: working towards collaborative practice.

An additional resource to Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako: Collaboration to Improve Learner Outcomes. This resource is designed to support CoL | Kāhui Ako as they work towards effective collaborative practice. It is framed around key questions in each of the seven effective practice areas and is able to be used both as evidence-based progressions and as a useful internal evaluation tool.

This is the first of a series of iterative reports which draw together what ERO knows about CoL | Kāhui Ako, as they move from establishment to implementation.

In 2015, ERO investigated target setting in both primary and secondary schools. We focused on the extent to which targeted actions of schools supported accelerated progress for students at risk of not achieving.

The report examines how well 15 of New Zealand's Secondary-Tertiary Programmes (STPs or Trades Academies) are meeting the needs of students at risk of not staying or succeeding in education.

This report looks at how well New Zealand early childhood services and schools are supporting transitions to school and highlights what's important and examples of good practice.

This report documents the findings of ERO’s 2013 evaluation of how well 40 secondary schools analysed and responded to their NCEA data.