How to read your child's PAT results

A PAT report can look like a page of numbers. Most of it comes down to three questions. Where is my child now? How do they compare with other children their age? Are they making progress? This guide takes each in turn, using NZCER's own guidance for whānau.

Study Compass is independent and not affiliated with NZCER, which makes the PATs. For more detail, NZCER's Understanding PATs page answers the questions families ask most.

First, what a PAT is and isn't

• It's a snapshot of how your child went on one test, on one day.^[1]
• It's low-stakes. PATs are there to help teachers plan what to teach next, not to judge a child.^[2]
• It isn't a pass or a fail, and it isn't meant for streaming children into groups.^[1]
• It isn't the whole picture. NZCER says PAT results should always sit alongside what the teacher sees in class, your input and your child's.^[2]

The numbers on the report

Many schools now send home NZCER's whānau report. It shows your child's latest scale score, a chart of their scores over the years, the national average for their year, and the range where the middle half of children score. The teacher can add a comment.^[3][4]

One thing catches families out. The national figures come from tests sat at the start of the year. If your child sat the PAT late in the year, NZCER suggests comparing their score with the figures for the next year level.^[2]

PAT scores and the Progress Descriptors

School reports now describe where your child is using the Ministry's five Progress Descriptors: Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Proficient and Exceeding. They describe expectations for the end of the school year.^[5]

NZCER has published interim tables that link PAT Pānui (reading comprehension) and PAT Pāngarau (maths) scale scores to a best-fit descriptor for each year level.^[5][6] This is the score where "Proficient" starts in each year:

From NZCER's interim mapping tables, May 2026.^[6] The tables also give the starting scores for Developing, Consolidating and Exceeding, and cover Years 9 and 10. For example, in Year 4 a PAT Pānui score of 25.2 or more suggests at least Consolidating, and 32.2 or more suggests at least Proficient.^[5]

How to read this without over-reading it:

• It's end-of-year. A Term 1 score below the Proficient mark is normal, because your child has the rest of the year to get there.^[5]
• Check the ± range. If your child's range crosses one of these boundaries, the result fits either level. NZCER says so plainly.^[5]
• The teacher decides. The tables aren't automatic cut-offs. Teachers choose the descriptor that best fits your child, using the PAT along with classwork, conversations and other tasks.^[5]
• It's interim. The tables are built from the Ministry's mapping for e-asTTle, and NZCER plans to update them once the Ministry's SMART tool has been aligned. Writing (PAT Tuhituhi) will be mapped later.^[5][7]

Is my child making progress?

Compare scale scores, not stanines, and give it time.

• Look across years, not terms. NZCER recommends at least two years of PAT results to see one child's progress. PATs can't measure progress precisely within a single school year.^[2]
• Mind the margin. Even with no change in learning, about a third of children would score outside their first range if they sat a similar test again. So a small rise or dip may just be measurement error, and it doesn't mean your child hasn't learned anything.^[2]
• A steady stanine can still mean growth. If the scale score rises and the stanine stays at 5, your child has grown at the same pace as children their age.

Questions to ask the teacher

• "Does this result match what you see in class?"
• "Which questions or skills did they find hardest?" PAT reports can show results question by question, so the teacher can often point to specific skills.^[8]
• "Which Progress Descriptor do you think fits, and why?"
• "What's the one thing we could practise at home?"

What to do at home

• Work on the skill, not the test. Short, regular practice on the area the teacher points to does more than practice papers.
• Talk about it calmly. "This shows us what to work on next" lands better than a focus on the number.
• Help them feel ready next time. NZCER's Kia rite! video explains PATs to children, and its whānau poster suggests reassuring your child and encouraging them to give every question a go.^[1]

Our guide to PAT tests lists every PAT and what each stanine band means, and our free PAT-style practice questions cover maths and reading skills for Years 3 to 8.