A new report on National Standards has shown 90 percent of schools are either well prepared or are preparing to work with them, Education Minister Anne Tolley says.
The standards are benchmarks in writing, reading and maths designed to clearly show students' progress or problems.
Teacher unions oppose them and some schools don't want to use them.
Mrs Tolley said today the Education Review Office (ERO) report was "extremely encouraging" and showed primary and intermediate schools were making great progress.
"This ERO report, which gathered data from 237 schools in terms three and four in 2010, shows marked improvements from the previous two terms," she said.
"Overall, 90 percent of schools were either well prepared or had preparation underway to work with National Standards, up from 80 percent in the report covering terms one and two."
Mrs Tolley said well prepared schools increased from 19 percent to 37 percent.
"ERO found that the schools which were doing well had strong professional leadership and carried out robust self-reviews," she said.
"Conversely, leadership capability and lack of assessment processes were factors in the 10 percent of schools which were not prepared."
Mrs Tolley said there was an increase in the level of understanding among principals, teachers and trustees, and they would continue to receive training in implementing the standards.
