The government is talking up its mandated approach to structured literacy for new entrants, pointing to statistics showing double the number of students exceeding expectations.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford touted the results at the weekly post-Cabinet briefing.
Stanford said data from phonics tests in Term 3 for children after 20 weeks of schooling showed 58 percent of students at or above expectations, up from 36 percent in Term 1.
Phonics tests identify how well a child can decode and sound out both real and made up words.
Structured literacy is a teaching approach which focuses on teaching students to read using the relationships between letters and sounds, and became mandatory for primary schools from Term 1 this year.
Stanford said the number of students who exceeded expectations in Term 3 was 43 percent, more than double the rate for Term 1.
"The increase in achievement has resulted in a reduction in the number of students that need targeted support, dropping from 52 in Term 1 to 33 percent in Term 3," Stanford said.
The number of Māori students at or above the expected level had increased from 25 percent to 43 percent, children in high equity (low-decile) schools went from 18 to 35 percent, and Pacific students went from 27 to 43 percent.
"This is an incredible improvement in reading scores in less than half a year and reflects the brilliant work teachers are doing. These results are evident our structured literacy reforms work for everyone, all schools, all ethnicities, all deciles. Raising reading achievement right from the first year of school gives our young people the best chance of success at school."
Stanford acknowledged Emeritus Professor James Chapman who was in the room and "has been fighting for decades for this evidence-based approach for learning to make sure that it is embedded in our schools and we all owe him a huge debt of gratitude".
"Let me be really clear: Structured literacy is working for all children in all settings in all schools based on the science of learning and on how the brain learns to read.
"This is the very first snapshot of data and it did everything that we thought it would do."
Luxon said New Zealand simply had not done well enough in teaching literacy in the past couple of decades.
"Student achievement has been on a steady decline and New Zealand's results have fallen compared to other countries we like to measure ourselves against," he said.
"Without strong foundations in the basics of reading, writing and maths, how on earth can our young people be expected to reach their potential and access the higher-paying jobs that are out there?"
It comes on the same day Luxon blamed the teachers' union for ongoing strike action.
He has accused unions of driving an increase in industrial action by prioritising politics over priorities, as secondary school teachers are set to strike from Tuesday following stalled collective agreement negotiations.
Asked about the strikes, Luxon said teachers were "doing an exceptionally good job" but "our only ask is that we want the unions to come round the table and negotiate".
"And appreciate that we don't have a bottomless pit of money, we know we've got very straitened economic times - we've got to deal with that reality - but the answer is not to go into strike action and cause pain and suffering for parents and kids and patients.
"The answer is actually to get around the table, and stick with it, and go through the bargaining process."
Stanford said she had not "been involved in any of those conversations" about how the Crown or Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche - who is leading negotiations on the Crown's behalf - might respond.
"All I know is that we are a government that is massively committed to education and the tens of millions of dollars that we have invested in professional learning and development for teachers in structured literacy and improving their confidence and capability in the classroom is evident in the results we are seeing today."
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