Student Assessment Systems in Schools

Published on Monday, 05 December 2011 08:53

The Educational Research Institute has launched a Student Assessment in Schools study. Its aim is to provide an insight into school assessment systems with special attention given to the role of formative assessment, and the extent to which the in-school systems differ.

The study was inspired by  OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes project (http://www.oecd.org/edu/evaluationpolicy). The study will include head teachers of primary and lower secondary schools, pupils, teachers, psychologists and educationalists as well as parents, and will be carried out by BD Center, a Rzeszów-based independent research company.

The first stage of the project, computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with head teachers of primary and lower secondary schools (a sample group of 582 schools nationwide), was finished in January 2011. Further stages of the review (February 2011) will use clash-group qualitative techniques, in which both supporters and opponents of various assessment practices will present their arguments. In addition, a sample of school assessment systems will be coded and analysed. The study will be followed by a nationwide survey of a representative sample of primary and lower secondary schools (third quarter of 2011). The initial results of the qualitative review are due to be released in the second quarter of 2011.