Introduction Researchers, teachers, and policy makers around the world are grappling with the challenge of ensuring that increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse student populations are provided with equitable learning opportunities and outcomes (UNESCO, 2014). This challenge takes on particular significance in New Zealand where national and international achievement data persistently show a large gap between our high-achieving and low-achieving learners, a gap that is frequently related to students’ ethnicity and socio-economic background. Despite the Ministry of Education’s many policies aimed at addressing this challenge (e.g., Ka Hikitia–Accelerating Success 2013–2017 (Ministry of Education, 2013a) and the Pasifika Education Plan 2013–2017 (Ministry of Education, 2013b)), data continue to show that students from poor communities,