Erica’s SMART Assessment System Isn’t Smart After All
Erica Stanford’s SMART assessment system promises clarity—but teachers say it means more paperwork and less education.

Erica Stanford’s SMART assessment system promises clarity—but teachers say it means more paperwork and less education.

Erica Stanford says Year 8 maths is improving. The Ministry’s own numbers suggest the truth is more complicated.

ACT want you to believe charter schools are a triumph of efficiency. The problem is their own numbers leave out huge costs and compare unlike with unlike.

Critics warn Erica Stanford’s Education & Training (System Reform) Bill centralises power, weakens teacher autonomy and risks long-term damage to NZ’s education system.
National has come up with many “reforms”, proposals, policies, and ideas that eventually fail, or create unforeseen (or often foreseen; pre-warned; and ignored) problems. On this occasion, the proposal to increase spending for under-fives children with special needs, at the expense of older children, is short-sighted madness that beggars belief.