What are the Assessment and Aromatawai requirements in 2026?

From 2026, schools are required to carry out twice-yearly assessment of Year 3-8 students in Reading, Writing, and Maths using specified tools. Schools can choose between SMART, PATs or e-asTTle for their twice-yearly reporting requirements in 2026. 

For kura kaupapa Māori, Ngā Kura ā-Iwi, and specified hapū/iwi-based special character schools, these requirements will not come into effect until 1 January 2027. 

SMART is aligned with the new curriculum and free for schools and kura. 

While e-asTTle is not aligned with the new curriculum it continues to be free and available for schools and kura. 

NZCER PATs is not funded by the Ministry of Education. Schools and kura must pay to use PATs. 

Can I use SMART with just one class in a school?  

Yes. SMART is set up at the class level. Individual teachers can configure and run assessments for their own classes. A school does not need to roll out SMART across all classes or year levels at once.  

The requirement is that all Years 3–8 students are assessed twice yearly using a specified tool, so the school will need to ensure coverage across all required year levels using SMART, e-asTTle, or PATs.  

 Can I mix SMART and PATs (or e-asTTle) within a school?  

Yes. Schools can choose between SMART, PATs, and e-asTTle to meet the twice-yearly assessment requirements in 2026.   

 This choice is flexible. For example, a school could use SMART for reading and writing while continuing to use PATs for maths, or use different tools for different year levels. The key requirement is that all Years 3–8 students are assessed twice yearly in reading (or pānui), writing (or tuhituhi), and maths (or pāngarau) using one of the specified tools.  

How long does the SMART assessment take to complete? 

This depends on the year level and relies on teacher judgement. Assessments are not strictly timed, but the Year 3 assessment would take approximately 30 mins, and up to 50 mins for year 10. 

Will SMART be expanded to cover additional skills or learning areas and wāhanga ako? 
At this stage, SMART is only being developed for Reading, Writing, Maths, Pānui, Tuhituhi and Pāngarau for Years 3 to 10. 

Can schools use SMART to design and create their own assessments (such as for individual classes or school), or does it only have pre-designed assessments? 
In 2026, SMART will only have pre-designed assessments that have been created to align to the New Zealand Curriculum or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.   

Will there be a paper option for schools and kura that don’t have access to reliable Wi-Fi or that don’t use devices? 

Yes. SMART is designed to be flexible and supportive. Assessments can be completed online or on paper, depending on what works best for learners. 

If a student changes schools or kura, will their assessment data be available to the new school automatically? 
Yes, the student’s data will automatically transfer with them. The system is designed to support transitions of students to different schools and maintain a student's progress data. 

Is SMART compatible with schools' student management systems (SMS)? If so, how will this happen? 
Yes, SMART is compatible with the SMS. Initially, SMART will use the same process and file formats as e-asTTle. 

Does SMART connect to the curriculum yearly teaching sequence? 
Yes, SMART supports the new curriculum teaching sequence. 

SMART provides a rich set of features to support students with learning support needs.

The following accessibility adjustments are available within SMART:  

• Magnification tools (ie ability to increase font size)  
• Adjustable colour themes (5 versions)  

SMART also allows keyboard vs mouse navigation and supports assistive technologies such as:  

• personalised keyboards including Braille keyboards   
• personalised mice    
• personalised screens including screen readers (which provide text-to-speech functionality) for visually impaired students  
• voice control and use of mouth stylus for students with limited mobility  
• keyboard navigation

SMART assessments are not timed by the tool. This means that:  

• Extra time allowances and rest breaks do not need to be set up in SMART  
• If a timed session is required, the teacher | kaiako is responsible for managing the timing, including any extra time allowances. SMART also allows teachers | kaiako real-time control to pause, resume or extend assessments for the whole cohort being assessed.

Will SMART evaluate and recognise diverse ways of knowing and demonstrating learning? Will it be used alongside teacher assessment not instead of? 
SMART is intended to support students, teachers and schools. Tools should not be used to replace teacher judgement. Instead, tools should be used alongside other sources of assessment to support teachers to determine progress and achievement. 

Will SMART be appropriate for students attending specialist schools? Specifically, those schools who are working with students who have significant learning needs? 
It is intended that specialist schools will be able to use SMART in the same way as all schools, using it as a source of data to support teachers' judgement on progress and achievement.  

However, we are aware that for some students, SMART may not meet their significant needs, and we intend to meet directly with specialist schools in 2026. 

Since SMART is a cloud-based platform, where is the student data stored? 

All data is stored securely in Aotearoa New Zealand and managed in line with the Ministry’s data protection requirements and New Zealand government data standards. Backups for disaster resilience and recovery are stored in Australia.

Who has access to SMART data? 

The Ministry is kaitiaki of all student and ākonga data in SMART. There are robust policies, systems, and safeguards to ensure data is securely protected, ethically managed, and used only in ways that support learners and align with the Ministry’s responsibilities. 

There are contractual obligations and operational processes for assuring the data is managed and used appropriately. The platform provider (Janison) cannot use the data for their own purposes. 

How is aggregated data used? 

At a system level, aggregated data helps the Ministry identify where additional resources or targeted investment may be required to improve outcomes across the education sector, alongside informing policy design. This supports getting the right resources in place to help accelerate learning for those who need it. 

Does SMART use Artificial Intelligence (AI)?  
Yes, SMART uses AI. 

Teachers and kaiako are provided with AI assistance for marking of open-ended questions. SMART is not intended to replace teachers’ professional judgement or subjective feedback. 

Why is e-asTTle being replaced? 
While we initially planned for e-asTTle to remain available for schools and kura to track learner progress against the new curriculum, a further review showed that it doesn’t meet the technical requirements we need, and it doesn’t fully align with the new curriculum. 

Which company is the provider of SMART? 
Janison Pty Ltd is the provider of SMART. The Ministry of Education has worked closely with Janison to ensure that the tool is appropriate for the New Zealand context, including alignment of SMART assessment to the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. 

Will SMART be available in any Pacific languages? 
At this stage, SMART will only be available in English and Te Reo Māori. 

Familiarisation sites are a chance to see the types of questions and interactive features that learners will encounter.

Practising with the tools, layout, and colour themes ahead of time can help reduce a student's cognitive load, build confidence, and avoid common digital barriers. It can also help ensure that SMART assessments measure what students know, not how well they can navigate a digital system.

The site is designed for exploration only, from a student perspective. It does not capture or store any data and does not include teacher tools or reporting.

What it offers:

• A preview of the types of questions and scenarios learners and ākonga will encounter
• Examples of interactive tools like rulers and calculators
• Various item (question) types and layouts
• Accessibility colour theme (please note, only blue and black is available in the familiarisation site — other options will be available in the actual assessment)

Access the familiarisation site:

• SMART Familiarisation | New Zealand Curriculum
• SMART Familiarisation | Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

Devices can be tested using the SMART Device Readiness Check - this is done by opening a web browser on the device and entering the following URL into the address bar https://smart.education.govt.nz/pages/diagnostics and pressing return.  

The page will automatically run a compatibility check and results will display on screen.

These modules are available now through the Education Learning Management System (LMS). You can also download a PDF summary of each module below.

Three reference documents for teachers and kaiako delivering SMART assessments: a short information summary, a same-day checklist, and a comprehensive guide.

Use the one that suits the task: a quick refresher, a print-and-go on the day, or a deeper reference when setting up or troubleshooting.

Guides and a delivery checklist for Reading (New Zealand Curriculum) and Pānui (Te Marautanga o Aotearoa) assessments.

Guides and a delivery checklist for Maths (New Zealand Curriculum) and Pāngarau (Te Marautanga o Aotearoa) assessments.

Guides and checklist

Guides and a delivery checklist for Writing (New Zealand Curriculum) and Tuhituhi (Te Marautanga o Aotearoa) assessments.

Writing rubrics (New Zealand Curriculum)

Rubrics for marking the three writing purposes assessed by SMART — writing to entertain, writing to inform, and writing to persuade — along with guidance on how to read them. In 2026, all students are given persuade prompts.

Tuhituhi rubrics (Te Marautanga o Aotearoa)

Rubrics for marking tuhituhi responses at each tūārere, with an accompanying infosheet. These rubrics are informed by the redesigned Te Reo Rangatira wāhanga ako within Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and are intended as a guiding tool; ongoing review and refinement are anticipated.

Year-level writing exemplars

Exemplars for each year level, showing writing at each score band (1–6) with accompanying feedback. Teachers can use these to mark pieces of writing that SMART cannot (for example, pieces shorter than 100 words), or to confirm or change the AI-assisted scoring for students' writing. These exemplars will be updated later in the year to incorporate information from the scaling and equating processes after assessment window 1.

Information for teachers, kaiako, schools, and kura on the accessibility adjustments available within SMART and on supporting students and ākonga with additional needs.

The detailed reports can be accessed through the SMART tool at smart.education.govt.nz.

The Reading and Maths reports provide a scaled score for each student alongside a progress descriptor, helping you see overall progress, identify the next learning focus, and spot where a learner might need more support.

Reports are available at three levels:

Scaled scores make results easier to interpret and compare against the curriculum, take account of how difficult an assessment was, and let you track progress across successive assessment windows.

The Writing reports provide good student-level information to inform your teaching and learning practice, ready to use in your planning now:

A raw score gives you a clear view of how each student performed in this assessment. Use these reports to focus your teaching and learning programmes and give feedback to students.

For Assessment Window 1, kaiako and kura receive reports for Pānui, Tuhituhi and Pāngarau providing marks at school, year, class and student level. These enable analysis by whenu, element and sub-element, giving clear insight into what ākonga can do and where to focus teaching next.

We were delighted with how many schools and kura took part in this first assessment window, with twice-yearly assessment still optional for most TMoA settings in 2026. As participation grows, reporting will expand to include scaled scores that let kaiako track ākonga progress across assessment windows.

We warmly encourage schools and kura to take part in the second assessment window in Term 4.

Exporting SMART data to your SMS

Exporting SMART data enables assessment results to be stored within your school’s Student Management System (SMS) and used as part of reporting to parents, whānau and caregivers.

The process has two parts:

• Creating an export file in SMART — from Detailed Reporting, select Export to generate a CSV file containing student information, assessment scores, and progress descriptors for each subject. Step-by-step instructions are in the guide above.
• Uploading the file into your SMS — each SMS uses its own import process, so refer to your SMS provider’s support documentation for detailed import instructions.