The Education Review Office (In Māori

Maori language

Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

, Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga) or ERO is a relatively small state sector organisation

State sector organisations in New Zealand

Public sector organisations in New Zealand include the State sector plus the organisations of local government.Within the State sector lies the State services, and within this, lies the core Public service....

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 tasked with reviewing and reporting publicly on the quality of education in all New Zealand schools. The Government Department is run by a Chief Review Officer - currently Dr Graham Stoop, formerly the principal of Burnside High School

Burnside High School

Burnside High School is the second largest high school in New Zealand with over 2600 students, and is located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, New Zealand.-History:...

 in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 and more latterly the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Education at the University of Canterbury

University of Canterbury

The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...

. The Chief Review Officer has approximately 120 designated review officers under him who are located in nine district offices. The minister responsible for the Education Review Office is the Hon. Anne Tolley

Anne Tolley

Anne Merrilyn Tolley is a politician representing the New Zealand National Party. With the formation of the Fifth National Government in late 2008, she became the Minister of Education, the first woman ever to assume the role.Tolley is the Member for the East Coast electorate, representing...

 and its operating budget for the year 2004/2005 was $25.6 million.

The Education Review Office is separate from the Ministry of Education.

Reviews

ERO reviews the education provided for school students in all state schools, private schools and kura kaupapa Māori. It also reviews the education and care provided for children in early childhood education services and kōhanga reo. Reviews are carried out every three years on average, but are more frequent where the performance of a school or service is poor and there are risks to the education or safety of the students or children. ERO reports to individual boards of trustees on what they are doing well and where they need to improve.
Reports on individual schools and early childhood services are freely available to the public see ERO's website: http://www.ero.govt.nz