About assessment standards

About standards

A standard describes what a student who has achieved the standard knows and can do.

There are 3 types of standards:

achievement standards
unit standards
skill standards.

Achievement and unit standards are also called assessment standards.

An example of an Agriculture unit standard:

19070 - Harvest cash crops under supervision.

An example of a Biology achievement standard:

91606 - Demonstrate understanding of trends in human evolution.

Find a standard

Standards are listed on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards (DASS).

You can search by standard number, subject or field, or keyword.

Search the DASS

Level and credit value of standards

Each standard has a level and a credit value. The level shows the complexity and skill it takes to achieve the standard.

The credit value shows the amount of time it takes to achieve the learning outcomes for a standard. One credit represents 10 notional hours of teaching, learning and assessment.

Achieving standards

Learners achieve standards as part of their assessment towards NCEA or another qualification or micro-credential they're enrolled in (if that qualification or micro-credential includes standards).

A learner can also achieve individual standards when they need their knowledge or a specific skill recognised, or they need certain standards for their job. For example, crane operators need the standard US 3789. Standards can be assessed at work or on a training course.

Standards earned in school, or through tertiary or workplace training are recorded on a learner's New Zealand Record of Achievement (NZRoA).

Internal and external assessments for NCEA

Some standards taught in schools are assessed externally. Others are assessed internally.

Internally assessed means that schools assess student work. Externally assessed means that NZQA assesses student work.

Some external assessments are by examination at the end of the year.

Other standards are assessed by portfolios or kete manarua, reports, investigations, common assessment activities or tūmahi aromatawai pātahi, or performances.

Find out more

NCEA external assessment (exams)

NCEA subjects and learning areas

Assessment grades

The grades a student can earn depend on the type of standard.

For unit and skill standards, all grades may be available, but usually there are just 2:

Achieved (A) if students meet the standard's criteria
Not Achieved (N) if students don't meet the standard's criteria

For achievement standards, there are 4 grades:

Achieved (A) for a satisfactory performance
Merit (M) for very good performance
Excellence (E) for outstanding performance
Not Achieved (N) if students don't meet the standard's criteria.

When a student doesn't achieve a standard

Students who don’t achieve a standard can ask their school or tertiary provider if there’s another internal or external assessment opportunity available.

There are different rules for schools and higher education providers, but most of the time, students can resit an assessment at a later date.

Developing standards

Organisations that develop standards are known as standard-setting bodies (SSB). All standards are developed by subject matter experts.

The Ministry of Education develops achievement standards related to the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.
Workforce Development Councils develop skill standards and unit standards.
NZQA also develops some skill standards and unit standards.