Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword; Notes; Contents; Acronyms; Chapter 1: Introduction; About New Zealand and its Education System; Notes; Chapter 2: High Stakes Assessment: Global Pressures and Local Responses; High-Stakes National Assessment Systems; England; The USA; Australia; High-Stakes National Assessment Systems: The New Zealand Response; Large-Scale Assessments and Data Infrastructure; Large-Scale Assessments: The New Zealand Response; Notes; Chapter 3: The Kiwi Standards, Whanaketanga and the Available Research; The Kiwi Standards; Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori; The RAINS Project.

The MTL Research Other Studies of the Kiwi Standards; Notes; Chapter 4: The Contested Introduction of the Kiwi Standards; The Announcement and Legislation; Development of the Kiwi Standards and Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori; Pre-launch Justifications for the Kiwi Standards and the Growing Opposition; Media Coverage; Early Days of the Kiwi Standards 2010-2011; Government Responses in the Early Days 2010-11; Greater Acceptance of the Kiwi Standards After 2012; Notes; Chapter 5: Neither National nor Standard; Scope for Differences Across New Zealand.

The Trajectories of the RAINS Schools Further Variation Between the Schools; Sources of Variation at the Classroom Level; Notes; Chapter 6: Public Achievement Information and the Progress and Consistency Tool; The Lead-Up to Releasing the Kiwi Standards Data; The Release of the Data; The Release of the Data and the RAINS Schools; The Aftermath of the Release; Subsequent Releases of Kiwi Standards Data 2013-2015; The Release of Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori; PaCT; Notes; Chapter 7: The Impact of the Kiwi Standards; The Convergence of the RAINS Schools.

Intensification of Staff Workloads Curriculum and Curriculum Narrowing; Positioning and Labelling of Children; Other Effects of Kiwi Standards Data and Targets; Weighing Up Evidence from the RAINS Schools; More About the Perspectives of Parents; More About the Interviews with Children; ERO and the Work of Reviewers in the RAINS Schools; Notes; Chapter 8: The Politics of Research; Background; Research-Informed Debates Over the Kiwi Standards; Undertaking and Reporting the RAINS Research; Continuing Commentary and Activism; Notes.

Chapter 9: The Kiwi Standards a Decade On: What Were They All About? A Decade On; The New 'Social Investment' Concerns with the Kiwi Standards; Privatisation Associated with the Kiwi Standards; The Kiwi Standards and Wider Changes in New Zealand Life; Notes; Chapter 10: International Responses: Bob Lingard, Meg Maguire and David Hursh; Bob Lingard: An Australian, Global and Policy Perspective; Introduction; Neighbours; Policy Issues; Global Effects; Concluding Comment; Meg Maguire: An English Perspective; Policy and Policy Contexts.