MAC Research and Evaluation
NZCER Evaluation of the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC)
Nā Jackson Rowe-Williams and Nicola Bright, 2026
An independent evaluation by the New Zealand Council for Education Research (NZCER), conducted by researchers Jackson Rowe-Williams and Nicola Bright, examining the impact of the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC) across more than 500 schools and 156,000 ākonga nationwide. This report draws on quantitative and qualitative evidence — including principal surveys, interviews, wānanga, and school-reported data — the report gives MAC a top rating for its contribution to sustained, embedded improvements in outcomes for ākonga Māori, including gains in attendance, achievement, and cultural confidence among school leaders.
The evaluation also documents a wider "ripple effect," with benefits extending into leadership teams, classrooms, and whānau relationships beyond MAC schools themselves.
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Te Ara Hōu: MACs Evaluation Snapshot
Prepared by Dr Melinda Webber, University of Auckland, 2017
This snapshot presents an overview of the findings from an evaluation of the Te Ara Hōu: Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACs) initiative. It considers the impact of MACs on the attitudes, and consequent changes in practice, of participating principals. This snapshot also examines the Māori Student Achievement shifts in the original 47 participating schools from 2013-2015.
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Prepared by Dr Melinda Webber, The University of Auckland (April, 2017)
Te Ara Hou—A new pathway for leading Māori success as Māori
Andrés P. Santamaría, Melinda Webber, Lorri J. Santamaría, Lincoln I. Dam, and Sharona Jayavant
This article aims to document and evaluate the effectiveness of Te Ara Hou—The Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACS). MACS is a nationwide grassroots educational leadership professional development project comprising 63 primary and intermediate school principals. These educational leaders meet at hui and wānanga several times a year to collectively engage with recent research and professional development to support their leadership practice toward achieving Māori success as Māori. In this article, MACS’ progress is measured against educational and leadership frameworks including Ka Hikitia and applied critical leadership. Complementary methodological frameworks employed are kaupapa Māori and critical race theory. Outcomes of this evaluation indicate that MACS is a culturally situated, culturally appropriate, and Māori-centric group of Māori and non-Māori principals committed to shifting their own leadership practice and school culture from what is to what can be. Findings suggest movement in the leaders’ practice from responding to students’ culture to making deliberate choices that result in actions and practices that positively impact upon and change school
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Te Ara Hou Independent Research Report on the Māori Achievement
Lorri J. Santamaría, Melinda Webber, Andrés P. Santamaría, Lincoln Dam
Since early 2014, an independent team of researchers from the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology has been collaborating in partnership with Māori and non-Māori school principals from the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MACs) to analyse data collected throughout MACs’ six regional clusters (Tai Tokerau, Tāmaki Makaurau, Kirikiriroa, Rotorua, Taranaki, and Kahukura). The purpose of this analysis is to support, identify, strengthen, and promote sprincipals’ voices engaged in school leadership to improve Māori success as Māori. The following analysis reflects the findings from 44 leadership surveys, 87 hui reflective statements, 7 individual and 3 focus group interviews that have been collected to date. Data were aggregated into three time points (May 2014, December 2014 and May 2015) in order to chart MACs principals’ personal and professional growth over time. Two of these three time points aligned to the annual MACs wānanga held at Kia Aroha College, Auckland in May, 2014 and Owae Marae, Taranaki in May, 2015. Data were then qualitatively analysed and grouped by themes consistent with previous reports, as well as emergent themes, highlighting the importance of key elements to consider when working in schools to improve Māori achievement. Each theme that follows is supported by data collected from principals on the leadership practices and strategies they are prioritising in their schools to support Māori success.
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