Education Review Office

The Education Review Office (ERO) is the government department that evaluates and reports on the education and care of students in schools and early childhood services. ERO’s reports are used by parents, teachers, early childhood education managers, school principals and trustees, and by Government policy makers. Dr Graham Stoop is ERO's chief executive and the Chief Review Officer. The Chief Review Officer formally designates individual review officers to carry out reviews in schools and early childhood centres. The functions and powers of the Chief Review Officer are described in Part 28, ss 325-328 of the Education Act 1989. This Act gives the Chief Review Officer the power to initiate reviews, investigate, report and publish findings on the provision of education to all young New Zealanders. ERO has approximately 150 designated review officers located in four regions: Northern-Te Tai Raki, Central-Te Tai Pokapū, Southern-Te Tai Tonga and Te Uepū-ā-Motu, ERO’s Māori Reporting Services Unit.

ERO's Role in New Zealand

ERO carries out different types of reviews - education reviews, homeschool reviews, cluster reviews of education institutions and services, contract evaluations and national evaluations on education topics.

• Education reviews and reports to boards of trustees, managers of early childhood education services and the Government on the quality of education provided for children and students in individual centres and schools.

Schools and early childhood services are reviewed on average once every three years. Reviews will be more frequent where the performance of a school or centre is poor and there are risks to the education and safety of the students, or less frequent where a school has a stable reporting history and demonstrates good self review processes and use of its assessment information. ERO's reports on individual schools and early childhood services are freely available to the public. They are on the website, and you can ask for a hard copy from the individual school or early childhood service or from any ERO office.

• Homeschool reviews

ERO reviews the programmes for students exempted from enrolment at a registered school when requested by the Minister or Ministry of Education.

• Cluster reviews

From time to time ERO undertakes reviews of education which look at groups or areas with common features. These have included reports on the performance of schools in a defined geographical area, and of particular populations of students such as boys.

• Contract evaluation services

ERO undertakes specific contracts with Crown agencies, such as the Ministry of Education.

• Evaluation reports

ERO publishes national reports on specific education topics using evidence from its reviews. These are available under National Reports on this website.

Its site is http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-ERO - but see also http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-ERO/ERO-s-Role-in-New-Zealand

---

> New Zealand