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. The Collaborative Improvement Community (CIC) undertaking is to capture and present school stories of successful practice on a framework that will enable success to be highlighted and exemplified.

Stories focus on intentional assessment and the formative use of data – what is to be improved, the change process, and the evidence of improvement – and 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

NZAI, as a politically neutral, national education body, solely focussed on advocating for the use of effective assessment in all its forms, is helping 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.

Initial CIC Report 2026 – Solving problems, improving outcomes, moving forward

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. So 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.

Download the full report here.

And you can download individual stories from the full report. They are presented in the same order as they appear in the full report. Many of these stories are written up from workshop presentations from our 2025 Assessment Conference, so we have included a link to the original video where appropriate.

Te Papapa School: Developing adaptive teachers – challenging, changing, and totally worth it

Download the Te Papapa School story here.   Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Sandspit Road School | Te Kura o Rangiaawhea: A Journey to Clarity

Download the Sandspit Road School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Stonefields School | Te Kura o nga Pāraepōhatu: Improvement: Getting it in Our DNA

Download the Stonefields School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Middleton Grange School: More than just results – use of summative assessment results in NZ schools

Download the Middleton Grange School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Weston School: Strategic assessment: Strengthening teaching, learning and schoolwide coherence

Download the Weston School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Rototuna Senior High School: Teaching learning communities – A journey through improvement

Download the Rototuna Senior High School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Central Auckland Specialist School: Using evaluation for improvement to strengthen quality practice

Download the Central Auckland Specialist School story here.

Silverstream School | Te Kura o Māwaihākona; Collaborative reporting: a holistic view of student progress and achievement

Download the Silverstream School story here.    Link here to the Assessment Conference video.

Synthesis of themes from stories of school improvement

Download the Cross Case Analysis here.

 

🌟 If you are interested in our CIC 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.