Uvodenje dravne mature u hrvatske srednje kole

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• How can assessment reform in Croatia add to
  transparency and accountability of
  the educational system?
• Education Policy Centers MeetingVilnius 11 - 13
  November 2005
• Zrinka Ristic Dedic
• Institute for Social Research Zagreb
• Centre for Educational Research and Development

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Educational Assessment in Croatia the Past and
Present

• educational assessment has been entirely internal
  (school based) and teacher-led
• schools are not accountable for their results
• no quality control system
• no standardised testing at any educational level
  exams are set, administered and marked by the
  class teachers
• no defined educational standards/ learning
  outcomes
• substantial variations in expectations and
  criteria between different teachers and schools
• the same grade does not mean the same level of
  achievement lack of trust in the school grades
• tertiary institutions set their own entrance
  exams as the part of selection procedure for
  entrance to the University

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Perception of Current Educational Assessment
Practice

• students often feel assessment is unfair and
  unreliable 44 believed that teachers often give
  grades based on previous grades the pupil
  received and 29 based on student social
  background or social relations with the teacher
  (CERD research 2003)
• secondary school teachers are aware that grades
  are not valid and reliable indicator of pupils
  success in school. Each teacher sets her own
  standards and evaluate pupils performance
  against them.
• higher educational institutions are not satisfied
  with the readiness of their freshmen and
  acknowledge the differences in prior knowledge
  between students from different schools.
• educational experts claimed that the
  non-existence of the quality control system
  combined with low autonomy of the schools
  produces low level of accountability of the
  schools and discourages quality improvement
  attempts (Openness in Education OSI 2005)

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Educational Assessment the Near Future
Three Pillars of Assessment Reform

• Final exams in the secondary schools (State
  Matura)
• 2008/09 the first State Matura in gymnasiums
• 2009/10 the first State Matura in vocational 4
  yr schools
• National assessment
• 2005/06 Croatian language, English language and
  Maths tests for first year gymnasium students
• School self evaluation
• In parallel with national assessment

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The Proposed Model External Assessment

• FINAL EXAMS STATE MATURA
• external school leaving exams
• certification function
• gatekeeper - selection purpose (very likely)
• conceptualised under the paradigm of outcome
  based education
• NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
• monitoring of school system efficacy used for
  providing information about the performance of
  the system
• student monitoring (formative assessment)
• preparing the system for introduction of State
  Matura
• setting norms and grading standards
• pre-testing the items

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The Proposed Model School Self-Evaluation

• complementary system for quality improvement
• external evaluation achieves the best results if
  balanced with self-evaluation system
• finding specific approaches and procedures for
  the realisation of educational standards
  established within external evaluation system
• helping schools in the process of self-analysis,
  in the determining of developmental priorities,
  setting goals and developing plans for action
• allowing schools to independently create their
  own development
• autonomy and responsibility back to the schools
• improvement of the quality within and from the
  bottom

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Accountability Issues

• Schools are obliged to use the information they
  receive through national assessment and Matura
  exams and combine these information with other
  educational quality indicators in order to
  continuously self-analyse and self-evaluate their
  work.
• outcome based approach sets the norms for the
  product (i.e. learning outcomes), but not for the
  teaching process and contents
• school self evaluation methodology gives the
  schools substantial autonomy in planning the
  progress and a full responsibility for the
  monitoring of the quality and for taking
  developmental actions
• this approach provides a significant contribution
  to the democratisation and transparency in the
  education system

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Transparency Issues

• transparent learning outcomes and grading
  criteria - test specifications prepared 2 years
  in advance
• transparency in exam preparation - published
  specimen paper, all rules set in advance
• transparency in conduct of the examinations
  clear and publicized regulations
• transparency in certification clear and
  comparable diploma on the local and European
  market
• transparency in the usage of results every
  school and student gets his/her own results and
  could compare it to national average.
• League tables as a total transparent measure are
  not welcome, however!

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Corruption Issues

• Perception of corruption in education 22.5
  claimed that corruption is widespread in
  pretertiary education and 54.2 in tertiary
  (TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL 2004)
• 6.5 students reported that they were offered to
  buy the vacancy at the University 2,6 students
  paid the bribe. (MONITOR STATISTICA 2003 - 2004)
• new assessment policy promotes the value of
  fairness and equal opportunities for all
• test preparation procedures and the conduct of
  the examinations eliminate the possibility of
  unfair or corruptive practices
• inflation of As phenomenon will loose its
  function
• rank of candidates for university entrance will
  be determined by a unique list for all the
  faculties at the NCEEE
• this will ensure more valid and fair selection of
  candidates for enrolment into tertiary education.
  Selection procedures for university entrance will
  be more transparent issues with the regularity
  of entrance exams will disappear.

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Conclusions
Assessment reform introduction of external
evaluation and self evaluation - will inevitably
impact the deep transformation of Croatian
education system. Academic performance will be
measured in a more valid, reliable, objective and
fair way. Assessment reform will help in
promoting quality in education. It will establish
quality assurance and quality control procedures.
It will raise the level of responsibility of
all stakeholders in the educational system. It
will add to transparency of the system by setting
clear national standards, defining the
educational aims and outcomes, and making
secondary education certificates transparent,
recognizable and comparable. It might serve as an
anti-corruption measure.