The new "Reading and Writing Standards" for years 1-8 (2009) and the "Literacy Learning Progressions" (2010) are the two documents that have been published to inform the New Zealand national standards in literacy. An earlier draft "Literacy Learning Progressions" document was circulated nationwide in 2007 to allow for submissions from interested parties. While most of the original content from the draft "Progressions" was retained in the final version, there was one major change. The draft document included two earlier benchmark assessment checkpoints; one at school entry and one after six months. However, both these earlier checkpoints have been deleted from the final "Progressions" document. We discuss some of the likely reasons why these earlier benchmark checkpoints may have been deleted and the implications of these deletions.