Have your say: Are A, B and C grades telling parents what they really need to know?

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

Most parents know the feeling. A school report comes home, there is a grade, a short comment, maybe a note about effort, and everyone tries to work out what it really means.

But does a B in maths tell you your child is on track? Does a C mean they are struggling, improving, or simply being compared with classmates who started in a different place?

That question is at the centre of a debate across the Tasman, where international education expert Geoff Masters has argued traditional A, B and C grades should be replaced with a clearer picture of what children have actually learned over time.

Masters, a member of the International Baccalaureate board of governors, told The Age the problem with traditional grades is that they “only indicate how well students have performed on the material they’ve just been taught”.

In other words, a grade may show how a student performed on a recent topic or assignment, but not where they actually are in their wider learning journey.

A child might be two or three years behind their classmates, or two or three years ahead, while still receiving a report that does not make that clear to parents.

Masters argues children would be better served by a long-term learning map, tracking what they have mastered from the start of school and showing the progress they make over time.

He compared it to the way piano students move through grades, based on their level of attainment, rather than being moved to the next stage simply because they are a year older.

That argument may feel familiar to many New Zealand parents, especially as schools here move through another period of assessment change.

NCEA is being replaced, with new senior secondary qualifications to be phased in from 2028.

The Government has also confirmed a new grading scale for senior subjects, intended to make achievement easier for students, parents, employers and tertiary providers to understand.

For younger students, schools are also expected to report more clearly on progress in reading, writing and maths, including how children are tracking over time.

Antony Harvey, general manager business operations at Te Poutāhū, the Ministry of Education’s curriculum centre, said progress and achievement were measured in different ways during a student’s school journey because they are different things.

Assessing progress could include everyday classroom evidence, such as observations, learning conversations and student work, alongside formal assessments of achievement, he said.

“The progress descriptors help teachers and kaiako to incorporate all this evidence to provide a full picture of the child’s progress through their learning,” Harvey told Stuff.

“This means that, alongside a learner’s results in any particular assessment, progress descriptors help signal where a child is at in their progress against curriculum expectations and where more support may be needed.”

He said progress descriptors gave parents, teachers and kaiako a consistent picture of a learner’s progress.

Harvey said the new NZCE and NZACE qualifications would use a six-point grading system from A+ to E, with students needing a C or higher to pass.

“Feedback from our public consultation last year indicated this grading system is easier to understand, shows greater recognition of students’ achievement, and is similar to tertiary grading systems, providing more consistency across senior secondary and tertiary education levels.”

Will the new system help parents understand their child’s progress at school? Do letter grades show the full picture of progress? Vote in our poll above and share your thoughts in the comments. If you’re using the Stuff app on iOS you’ll need to view Stuff.co.nz on a browser to view and post comments.