The great assessment sell off - the true cost going ‘standardised’

By Rebecca Thomas

Our assessment system is now out for tender to consultants—most likely non-educators being paid fat salaries—to design a system that enables student comparisons. And by extension, comparisons between teachers and schools. This undeniably signals a shift toward performance-related pay and increases the potential for more charter schools.

No matter how much we protest, the decisions have already been made, and the money is changing hands while we sleep.

If no one called for an inquiry into the curriculum refresh—despite high-profile figures in education demanding one—there will be no cavalry coming for this misstep either.

The press releases from yesterday suggest that principals were ‘blindsided’ by this decision. More likely, they were so consumed by the misdirection surrounding new math resources, structured curriculums, and the daily realities of finding warm bodies to cover CRT and sickness slots that they didn’t see the rug being pulled from under them.

The key phrase in the RFP is Standardised Assessment Tool—and we don’t need to preach to the choir about what “standardised” truly means.

We now find ourselves in two camps regarding this news.

Camp One: Some will be distracted by debates over the best type of assessment platform and system. There will be significant time and energy spent on rhetoric that the MOE and government will happily encourage—knowing it keeps us occupied. Maybe some believe it is beneficial to track students’ progress systematically. Maybe the assurance that assessments will occur in controlled environments, preventing AI use and ensuring robust results, is a comfort. Perhaps we trust that an online platform with randomised responses will prevent teaching to the test. Many global online assessments now incorporate AI detection software, after all.

Camp Two: Others will look ahead and recognise the broader implications of this mandate. They understand where standardised measurement ultimately leads: league tables looming on the horizon, schools competing for top teachers, the path toward increased charter schools, and the inevitable commercialisation of education. This will widen inequities, reducing education to a business venture rather than a fundamental right.

Neither camp is particularly appealing.

To those who will protest, scrutinise the RFP, and submit letters highlighting the flaws in this impending assessment platform, I thank you in advance for your moral compass and sense of justice.

To those who see the writing on the wall and instead focus on making the best of the freedom and scope we still have—to ensure our learners emerge from this system without being defined solely by measurement and tests—I acknowledge your foresight and efforts.

For all of us, we must recognise that the path is already laid. We will never get closer to the truth, nor will we have a genuine say in what lies ahead. Education is a multi-trillion-dollar industry designed to create winners and losers—whether they be schools, teachers, or students. The real winners are those who secure the fat wads of cash for creating services that inject money into businesses and those in power.

As Suli Breaks once said, we must never let our children believe an exam result or test score will decide their fate.

Some days, the best we can do is accept that we are part of this system—a cog in an industrial model designed to shape the next generation of citizens and voters. But in between the tests and mandates, we must focus on what truly matters: our students’ experiences, their relationships with their teachers, and the memories that shape them into better human beings. Their grit, resilience, and the moments when they look us in the eye and thank us for being the most stable and sane person in their world.

And for that, I truly thank you.

Kia kaha.