ANNEX A
Testing in other countries
The United States has a decentralized
system of education; there is no national school system. In accordance
with the US constitution, the ultimate authority to create and
administer education policy rests with the 50 states, and most
states have delegated authority to operate schools to local governments.
There are no national laws addressing a prescribed curriculum,
the establishment and recognition of institutions, the recognition
of degrees or professions, the governance of institutions, or
the legal status of students or faculty.
The US education system does not conduct nationwide,
official examinations. Current efforts to establish versions of
such examinations at the secondary school leaving level are being
suggested by the US Department of Education but with little success.
However, US educators do mark progress through all education levels
using a wide variety of tests and other forms of assessment and
evaluation.
However, the federal No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001 requires states to test all students in reading, mathematics,
and science in grades 3-8 and in high school. This requirement
will be phased in between 2002 and 2008. Each state, school district
and school will be expected to make annual progress toward meeting
state standards and this progress will be measured for all students
by sorting test results by category.
Japan: No national exams. Tests are set
by district. At age 12, junior high school entrance exams in four
to six subjects. These exams determine stream of high school and
affect university entrance. At age 15, senior high school entrance
exams. At age 18, university entrance exams comprising at least
10 papers.
New Zealand: No national testing until
16. At age 16, school certificate in five to six subjects. At
age 17, sixth form certificate, assessed internally by individual
schools. At age 18, higher school certificate in five subjects
for university entrance.
Austria: Pupils are evaluated by their
teachers. Evaluation should be evenly distributed over the evaluation
period. Evaluation may be continuous, oral, written, practical
or graphic. There are no oral exams at primary level and school
tests are held only in grade 4 (six tests in German and mathematics
each). The scale of assessment is 1-5. Parents receive progress
reports at the end of each term (twice per annum).
Spain: Schools are responsible for establishing
assessment procedures within specified guidelines. Teachers are
responsible for evaluation and deliver this via continuous assessment
against the educational objectives and assessment criteria set
down in the curriculum. In secondary schools, assessment must
be continuous and global although applied discretely by subject
area. Parents receive regular reports on the progress of their
children (at least four reports per annum). The scale of assessment
is 1-5 in secondary schools.
France: Continuous and periodic assessments
are carried out by the teacher or teachers in order to test what
the pupils have learnt. Systematic assessment of all pupils has
been organised at the start of the school year since 1989, by
the Ministry of National Education. The child is assessed at three
stages of his or her school life:
— on entrance to CE2 (primary: the
consolidation cycle which is the middle period of primary schooling,
eight years of age);
— on entrance to sixth class (start
to college, 11 years of age); and
— since 1992, on entrance to second
class of general and technological or vocational education (start
of Lycée: 15 years of age).
Italy: assessment follows a regular pattern
nationally but test content is decided locally by teachers. At
the end of class five, pupils sit the primary school leaving examinations
(esami di licenza elementare) allowing them to move on
to the second stage of compulsory education: the lower secondary
school (scuola media). The primary school leaving examination
comprises two written tests and an oral test. The written tests
are intended to ascertain the level of maturity that pupils have
achieved with respect to the activities carried out in primary
school on the basis of the planning worked out by the class teachers.
The two tests relate respectively to language and expression,
and logic and mathematics. The examination board is made up of
the class teachers and two teachers nominated by the Teachers'
Assembly (Collegio dei docenti) and appointed by the school
manager (Dirigente scolastico). At the end of hte primary
school, and upon passing the primary school leaving examinations
(esami di licenza elementare), the pupils are given a certificate
signed by the school manager (Dirigente scolastico). It
does not have any value as educational qualification, but it is
necessary to gain access to the lower secondary school (scuola
media).
Germany: assessment is devolved to regional
(Land) level. However, in recent years initiatives have been taken
in all Länder to develop measures for assuring the quality
of education at both the level of the school system and the level
of the individual schools; this goes beyond the traditional range
of instruments of the school supervisory authority and project
supervision. An assessment of the quality evaluation procedures
in the general education system in the Länder was carried
out in 1998 on behalf of the Standing Conference of the Ministers
of Education and Cultural Affairs. This revealed that the Länder
have taken a number of quality evaluation measures which combine
various quality assurance and school evaluation procedures. These
procedures, which combine central and local action strategies
include:
— use of standardised school performance
tests at Land level (e.g. to compare performance between parallel
classes within a school) and comparative tests, especially in
core subjects;
— the external moderation of final
examinations or the external correction of exam work (e.g. in
the form of central final examinations with second correction
of written examination papers or random monitoring by the school
supervisory authority of work submitted for the Abitur);
— focused evaluation with the emphasis
on special measures and topics (e.g. evaluation of examination
work in individual subjects in various Länder);
— internal and external evaluation
of the schools by external observers and advisors (e.g. by mutual
participation in Abitur examinations of other Länder
or the exchange of Abitur work between the Länder)
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