EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS

1
EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN THE
NETHERLANDS

• Country background report for the OECD study on
  Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for
  Improving School Outcomes
• Jaap Scheerens, Melanie Ehren, Peter Sleegers and
  Renske de Leeuw
• University of Twente, the Netherlands
• J.Scheerens_at_utwente.nl

2
Features of the educational system in the
Netherlands

• Freedom of education, with respect to founding of
  schools, and choice
• Two thirds of schools is government dependent
  private
• Intermediary layer of governance, made up of
  educational organizations and pressure groups
• High degree of school autonomy

3
Historic development of evaluation and assessment

• 70 ies Large scale program evaluations
• 80 ies start of systemic evaluation, cohort
  studies, national assessment , systematic school
  inspection
• Developments in 1990 ies, early 2000 rise of
  school self evaluation, proportional inspection,
  School Quality Cards, CITO pupil monitoring
  system, participation in international
  assessments

4
Current situation system evaluation

• a number of stable data collection procedures
• Periodic national assessment PPON
• Cohort studies
• Gradual development of system indicators
  (including examination results)
• Various data collections by Inspectorate
• Participation in international studies

5
Current situation school evaluation

• School self evaluation (internal)
• School inspection (external)
• Windows for accountability as a new hybrid
  external/internal evaluation, in which major
  powers that be schools, central administration
  and intermediary organizations all have a piece
  of the cake

6
Current situation teacher evaluation

• In the Netherlands, the evaluation or appraisal
  of individual teachers belongs to the
  jurisdiction of the Competent Authority of the
  school, the school board, or the municipality
• No external teacher appraisal, although the
  inspectorate evaluates the teaching quality of
  the school and school personnel policies

7
Current situation student assessment

• Central examination at the end of secondary
  school
• Primary school leavers test
• CITO pupil monitoring system (LVS)
• Stimulation of performance feedback, formative
  assessment on the basis of LVS, as part of
  government policy to support achievement
  orientation

8
Some salient features of evaluation and
assessment in the Netherlands

• Strong resistance by schools against external
  evaluation in the nineteen seventies slow
  acceptation and persistent reservations
• The rise and fall of school self evaluation
• Different interpretations of proportional
  inspections
• Educational evaluation as a power struggle