Dear Ministry of Education,

I am requesting specific data, communications, and analyses to understand the efficacy and evidentiary basis of key educational policies in light of persistent and statistically significant disparities in student achievement, engagement, safety, and teacher supply.

Please provide the following information:

1. Regarding Grouping Practices and "De-streaming":

a. All internal advice, briefings, and meeting minutes related to the commissioning and conclusions of the "Rapid Review of Grouping Practices for Equitable Outcomes" (October 2023) .

b. Any risk analysis or impact reports conducted by the Ministry to assess potential negative educational outcomes for high-achieving students as a result of implementing mixed-ability grouping policies .

c. All pre- and post-implementation data collected from schools that have received Ministry support to "de-stream," showing changes in academic achievement (NCEA pass and endorsement rates), student attendance, and stand-down rates, broken down by ethnicity and school EQI band.

2. Regarding NCEA Attainment, "Excellence Gaps," and LRCs:

a. The raw, un-standardized school leaver data for the years 2019 through 2024 showing:
i. The percentage of students attaining NCEA Level 2, NCEA Level 3, and University Entrance.
ii. The percentage of NCEA qualifications awarded that were endorsed with Merit and Excellence.
This data is requested for the following specific schools: Southern Cross Campus and Wellington College.
b. The national NCEA endorsement rates (Merit and Excellence) at Levels 1, 2, and 3 for the years 2019 through 2024, broken down by the following ethnicities: Māori, Pacific, Asian, and European/Pākehā.
c. All internal analysis and communications from 2020-2022 discussing the statistical impact of

Learning Recognition Credits (LRCs) on the validity and comparability of NCEA results .

3. Regarding School Disorder, Safety, and Attendance:

a. The raw, anonymized, incident-level data for all stand-downs and suspensions for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years. For each incident, this should include the student's ethnicity, year level, the specific reason for the disciplinary action (e.g., "Physical Assault on Other Students"), and the EQI band of the school .

b. Any analysis the Ministry has conducted to investigate a causal link between school attendance rates and rates of violent incidents (as measured by stand-downs for physical assault).
c. The chronic, moderate, and regular attendance rates for Term 1 of the years 2019 through 2025, for

Southern Cross Campus and Wellington College.

4. Regarding Internal Awareness of Systemic Decline:

a. All internal briefings, meeting minutes, and communications within the Ministry's senior leadership team since 2018 that explicitly discuss New Zealand's declining PISA scores , the rising rates of school violence , and the widening ethnic and socioeconomic achievement gaps in NCEA attainment .

5. Regarding Teacher Workforce and Competency:

a. All data from 2022-2025 showing teacher attrition rates, vacancies, and recruitment shortfalls, broken down by subject (e.g., Mathematics, Physics) and by school EQI band.
b. All internal briefings and reports since 2022 discussing the reasons for teacher attrition and the impact of workforce shortages on the Ministry's ability to meet its policy objectives, including those related to the "Common Practice Model."
c. Any analysis the Ministry or Teaching Council has conducted on the preparedness of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) graduates to manage classroom behaviour and teach a knowledge-rich curriculum.

6. Regarding Curriculum and NCEA Implementation:

a. The full, un-redacted results from all pilot programs and school trials for the new NCEA Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite standards, including the pass rates broken down by ethnicity and school EQI band.
b. All internal advice, risk analyses, and meeting minutes discussing the potential for these new co-requisite standards to decrease overall NCEA attainment and widen existing equity gaps.
c. Any analysis or modeling the Ministry has conducted to assess the impact of the "Te Mātaiaho" curriculum refresh on student achievement in core subjects as measured by international benchmarks like PISA and TIMSS.

I request that this information be provided to me in an electronic, preferably machine-readable (e.g., CSV), format where applicable. As per the Act, I expect a decision on my request to be made within 20 working days.

Lewis T