Collaborative Improvement Community

At NZAI we want to build positivity and energy into the national educational discourse by amplifying the improvement stories that we hear every year at our Assessment Conference. We know that these stories represent a small slice of the great things happening in NZ education, often invisible and buried within the national argumentative discourse.

Our vision is to celebrate, exemplify and build on the success stories of individual schools through the creation of a collaborative community of participating schools focused on school improvement. Our plan is to capture and present school stories of successful practice on a framework that will enable success to be highlighted and exemplified.

Stories will focus on intentional assessment and the formative use of data – what is to be improved, the change process, and the evidence of improvement – and will provide adaptable case studies. 

We see a range of benefits for schools and the profession, including:

• providing a national platform for schools to share their success stories
• motivating schools to initiate and build on their action-research processes through providing a space for ongoing investigation
• collaborative success building and problem sharing
• building connectivity and community among teachers and schools
• easy, cost-free participation
• networking and professional growth

As a politically neutral, national education body, solely focussed on advocating for the use of effective assessment in all its forms, NZAI can help build national positivity through creating a virtual community of schools that can celebrate what they have achieved and share and learn from each other about how to even better solve problems. Our improvement methodology is research-based, designed around iterative improvement year-on-year, focussed on celebrating what works and appreciative inquiry.

When the initiative was started in 2025 our aim was to publish an annual report detailing school stories with an analysis of their successful practices. 

STOP PRESS!!

We have, in March 2026, much pleasure in publishing our first CIC report, called Solving problems, improving outcomes, moving forward. 

The report brings together eight school improvement stories. While the initiatives differ in size, setting and focus, they share a commitment to deliberate problem-solving, evaluative thinking and strengthening outcomes for their learners. 

The first section presents the eight case studies. The accounts describe how schools defined problems or focus areas, designed and implemented change strategies and gathered emerging evidence of impact. 

The second section synthesises insights across the eight stories, identifying recurring patterns and common themes.

A hard copy of this report was given to each of the attendees at our April conference, and it is now available to download.

You can download the report here.

 

🌟 If you are interested in our initiative and think this may well add value to you and your school, and help build positivity throughout education, please contact us at info@nzai.org.nz.