Primary and intermediate schools all over New Zealand are getting on with the job of implementing National Standards.
Parents are entitled to quality information on the progress their child is making in reading, writing and maths, and families have already been giving great feedback on the plain-language reports they have been receiving.
Some in the education sector would have you believe the sky is falling.
It's not true - and I know it's not true, because principals, teachers and parents have taken the time to tell me.
That includes Otago principals.
At the end of term two, a Dunedin school leader emailed to let me know how well their reporting against National Standards had gone, and about the positive feedback from parents and teachers.
The principal said: "I have been reluctant to take sides on this debate but for us this is an improvement and working well."
And while I was in Dunedin last week, another principal told me of the good work on standards at their school and the excellent response from parents, while saying that it was a challenge for other schools which had not been assessing achievement and reporting well to families.
A parent summed things up really well by telling me, "despite the shrill criticisms of the National Standards programme, we would like to thank you for such a worthwhile scheme".
"National Standards helped us to choose parenting strategies that best suit our child."
And that is our focus.
The standards are all about children, parents and lifting achievement - it is not about unions and federations.
When I attended the New Zealand School Trustees Association conference in Christchurch last week the principals, parents and board members were overwhelmingly positive.
And they were at pains to point out that those in the sector who are making the most noise are a vocal minority playing politics.
But, still the scaremongering persists, with claims that similar initiatives have not worked overseas.
All nonsense, of course.
The standards are unique to New Zealand and nothing like the national testing seen overseas.
The standards, introduced at the start of the year, are simply benchmarks of what a child should be achieving, and by when, in reading, writing and maths.
Children are assessed throughout the year and there is no new test.
Parents should then receive clear information on how much progress their child is making, and what they can do to help.
The standards will also allow us to identify which pupils are struggling, so we can give them the extra support they need.
Incredibly, there are still claims that the sector was not consulted, and that I have not engaged with representatives.
This will come as news to the 11,000 people who took part in consultation last year, including the teacher's union and the principal's federation which helped develop the standards.
And, just this week I have had two meetings on the issue with the federation as part of our positive ongoing relationship.
There are many ways that principals and teachers can give feedback on suggested improvements.
There is a three-year monitoring and evaluation programme being conducted by an independent company under tender for the Ministry of Education.
I have also appointed an independent advisory group of technical experts to provide me with free and frank advice.
We are determined to get this right for our children and we will make changes if that is what is needed.
But this Government is not going to stand by while one in five of our children are failing in the schooling system.
We are raising the bar for education in this country.
This is not just for the 20% of pupils who are not getting the literacy and numeracy skills they need.
Even the pupils who are doing well can do better with the help of achievable goals and defined next steps on how to reach them.
The evidence and research make that clear.
A teacher recently emailed to say: "If you can make the system better then you have to, despite the resistance you face, otherwise our kids will continue to fail."
And that is good enough for me.
Anne Tolley is Minister of Education.
