Some schools were just beginning to introduce programmes for gifted students last year, although they have been required to do so since 2005.
An Education Review Office analysis released yesterday of the offerings at more than 300 schools nationally found that the programmes were at "various stages".
It
measured the schools' provisions against five key evaluation areas and found 17 per cent were doing well in all areas - but more than a third did not have good provision in any of the five.
Low-decile schools and those in rural areas were less likely to have good-quality arrangements.
Among recommendations, the ERO urged the Ministry of Education to consider how best to provide targeted and high-quality professional development to rural and low-decile schools.
Launching the report, Education Minister Chris Carter said: "We found that some gifted and talented students are not engaged in learning because they don't see school as being relevant to them.
"The evidence shows that by providing special support programmes tailored to suit individual needs, school becomes more relevant to these students."
He said the ministry was reviewing education for gifted and talented learners, including professional development for teachers.
The ERO produced a companion document that outlined good practice at seven schools nationally, including Rutherford, St Mary's and Kelston Girls' Colleges in Auckland.
The report said some staff at Rutherford, in Te Atatu, initially had a degree of resistance because they felt gifted and talented students were being "favoured unfairly".
However, two programmes had since been embedded in the school culture - and were making a difference.
The ERO said a Year 12 student reported that the programme boosted his confidence and "destroyed my limits about myself". The boy, of Asian ethnicity, was in the lowest-streamed class in Year 9 and was identified as having a gift for languages.
"In five years [he] had learned two new languages, as well as winning four school prizes in the sciences and mathematics," the report read.
"In a supportive environment he had identified his strengths and weaknesses and learned to work co-operatively."
