WELLINGTON, July 3 (Xinhua) --New Zealand school kids will undergo regular academic assessment as part of the government's educational reforms to lift student achievement and close the equity gap, giving parents certainty on how their child's doing at school, Education Minister Erica Stanford said on Wednesday.

Currently, the first glimpse at student achievement is when children sit the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), New Zealand's main secondary school qualification for students in Year 11-13.

"It's far too late to learn in Year 10 or 11 if they have not been adequately prepared with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed," Stanford said.

"At the earliest opportunity, parents deserve to know how their kids are progressing at school and have confidence they are moving in the right direction," she said, adding the government is introducing consistent assessment tools so parents and teachers will know more about how young people are learning.

From 2025, all children in their first year of schooling will have an opportunity to run through a phonics check, to help teachers understand how well a child can read words by sounding out letters, which will be done after 20 weeks of schooling and repeated after 40 weeks, according to the plan.

"It will help teachers identify and arrange additional support for those who need it right at the start of the child's education," Stanford said, adding progression monitoring on reading, writing and maths will also be introduced for children in years 3 through 8.

These will be done twice each year and will inform teachers about the next steps needed for a child's learning, she added.

The Curriculum Insights and Progress Study, which provides a national view of literacy and numeracy against the New Zealand Curriculum, will also be expanded. From 2025, it will assess reading, writing and maths annually for Years 3, 6 and 8. Enditem

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