Tetra Tech International Development, through the Nauru Education Program (NEP), is supporting system-wide curriculum and assessment alignment to strengthen teaching quality, improve fairness in assessment, and build a shared national approach to learning across Nauru’s schools.
Building clarity and consistency across the education system
Across education systems globally, one of the most persistent challenges is ensuring that what is taught in classrooms, how it is taught, and how student learning is assessed are clearly aligned. When curriculum, teaching practice, and assessment expectations are inconsistent, students receive mixed messages, teachers face uncertainty, and learning outcomes can suffer.
In Nauru, addressing this challenge has been a national priority. Through the Nauru Education Program (NEP), Tetra Tech is working in partnership with the Nauru Department of Education and Training (DoET), the Curriculum, Assessment, Scholarships and Examinations (CASE) Directorate, and regional partners to strengthen curriculum and assessment alignment across the system from Years 1 to 10.
This work is part of a broader effort to improve teaching quality, enhance consistency across schools, and ensure assessment practices are fair, transparent, and clearly connected to learning goals.
Supporting system-wide alignment in practice
Rather than focusing on isolated classroom interventions, NEP has supported a coordinated, system-wide approach. This has included the development of standardised tools that map syllabus learning outcomes, teaching and learning sequences, and assessment methods across year levels. These tools provide educators with clear structures for planning and assessment design, helping to ensure consistency across schools and subjects.
Alongside these technical tools, NEP has delivered targeted professional learning and co-design workshops for teachers, subject coordinators, and CASE managers. These sessions have focused on building shared understanding of curriculum expectations, strengthening assessment quality, and supporting educators to use aligned planning and assessment processes in everyday practice.
This approach reflects Tetra Tech’s emphasis on sustainable system strengthening – embedding processes and capabilities that can be maintained and led locally over time.
Embedding cognitive demand in teaching and assessment
A key feature of the work has been strengthening educator capability to design learning and assessment that progressively builds students’ cognitive skills. Guided by regional approaches to assessment design, including the SOLO Taxonomy and Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) cognitive verbs, NEP has worked with DoET and regional partners to support teachers to embed appropriate levels of cognitive demand in both classroom tasks and assessments.
By focusing on how students are asked to think – not just what content they are taught – the initiative supports deeper learning, clearer assessment expectations, and more meaningful evaluation of student understanding.
Practical tools for classroom impact
One of the most tangible outcomes of this work has been the development and nationwide distribution of Nauruan Cognitive Verb Placemats – practical teacher reference tools designed to support consistent interpretation of assessment language across classrooms.
The placemats clarify the meaning and expected level of thinking behind commonly used instructional and assessment verbs such as describe, explain, analyse, justify, evaluate, and create. They help teachers design clearer assessment tasks, align questions with intended learning outcomes, and support students to better understand what different types of questions are asking them to do.
Developed collaboratively with the Nauru Language Commission, the placemats were adapted to reflect Nauruan language, cultural references, and classroom contexts. They were produced across three phases of learning – early years, primary, and lower secondary – creating a suite of 45 locally relevant learning artefacts.
To ensure equitable access, digital placemats were distributed to all school-based staff through a centrally managed QR code, enabling immediate use across all schools. Hard-copy versions were also delivered to every classroom nationwide, including infant schools and specialist education settings, ensuring consistent access even in environments with limited connectivity.
Why alignment matters
When curriculum, teaching, and assessment are aligned, the benefits are felt across the system. Students receive clearer learning expectations. Teachers are better able to target instruction and design meaningful assessments. Moderation and marking become more consistent. Learning pathways are more transparent and fair.
By establishing a shared language of learning and assessment, the cognitive verb placemats and alignment tools help translate curriculum standards into everyday classroom practice. This strengthens instructional quality while supporting equity across schools and year levels.
Building foundations for long-term improvement
This phase of curriculum and assessment alignment marks an important step in Nauru’s longer-term journey to strengthen teaching quality and learning outcomes. Ongoing professional learning, coaching, leadership support, and localised resource development will be essential to embed these practices sustainably.
Through NEP, Tetra Tech will continue working closely with DoET, the CASE Directorate, and regional partners to build educator capability and support school and system leaders to lead curriculum and assessment alignment into the future.
By focusing on clarity, consistency, and locally grounded solutions, this work is helping to lay strong foundations for a more learner-centred, transparent, and effective education system in Nauru.
Read more about Tetra Tech’s work in the education space.