Students struggling with maths made double the progress of their peers in just 12 weeks through a government acceleration programme, new trial results show.
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the conclusion of the Year 7 and 8 maths acceleration trial, which involved almost 3,500 students nationwide.
"We are committed to ensuring young Kiwis are learning the basics brilliantly, meeting the curriculum expectation, and getting the support they need to stay on track. The Year 7 and 8 maths trial's final analysis confirms our approach is working in bridging the gap for students who need it most," Ms Stanford says.
The programme targeted students a year or more behind in maths, focusing on four fundamental areas: number structure and basic operations, multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, and word problem solving.
Participants made up to two years' worth of progress across these learning areas in the 12-week programme. Crucially, when students were retested three months later, they had largely retained their learning gains.
"Students in the in-person programme made twice as much progress as students in the control group," Ms Stanford says.
Even students not in the trial programme showed significant improvement. The control group, learning under the new curriculum with an hour of daily maths using quality resources, made an average of one full year's progress in just 12 weeks.
"This highlights the transformation underway in our classrooms under these education reforms," Ms Stanford says.
The results showed consistent improvement regardless of students' background, gender, or ethnicity, supporting efforts to close the equity gap in education.
The programme involved small groups taking part in four 30-minute maths sessions per week. Three delivery methods were tested: in-person tutoring by teachers, hybrid online and teacher supervision, and online-only modules with teacher aide support.
In-person tutoring delivered the strongest results, with students making double the progress of the control group.
The acceleration programme is now available across schools and builds on the government's Make it Count maths action plan, which includes $20 million in professional development, increased maths requirements for new teachers, and structured intervention for struggling students.
"Maths is a foundational skill that sets students up for future success. Our Government backs the potential of every child to succeed and is putting in place the support required to deliver this," Ms Stanford says.
The government has also introduced maths resources for Year 9 and 10 students, delivered one million workbooks and textbooks to classrooms, and provided professional learning for more than 22,000 teachers.