Sunday, Feb 02, 2014
Abu Dhabi: Schools across the emirate of Abu Dhabi are being urged to gear up for three international assessments that will measure pupils’ abilities with their peers from across the world.
In a statement sent by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) on Sunday, Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, director general, said these assessments are vital to develop the education process in schools.
“They help monitor achievements at regular intervals as well as compare results internationally. This also pushes us to improve overall grades for schools,” Dr Al Khaili said.
The three programmes for international student assessments include the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss), which tests international trends in Science and Mathematics among the Grade 4 and Grade 8 pupil every four years, and the International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), which tests reading literacy among Grade 4 pupils every five years. The third assessment is the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) that assesses 15-years-old pupils in Science, Mathematics, Reading and Problem Solving skills every three years, thus assessing whether pupils approaching the end of compulsory education have acquired the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society.
Since the Main Study of the upcoming cycles of Timss and Pisa are due to take place in 2015, Adec and other education ministries across the UAE are preparing schools that have been sampled for the Field Trial Phase for both Timss and Pisa from now. The Field Trial test will take part in sampled schools during this academic year.
Schools are therefore in the process of nominating school coordinators and test administrators to take part in a one-day workshop about how to administer the assessments in their schools. The trainings will be held in February for private schools across the emirate and in March for public schools in preparation for the Timss 2014 Field Trial.
School coordinators, IT Coordinators and test administrators have been chosen to take part in one-day workshops across sampled schools as part of the Pisa Field Trial. Workshops are due to take place from April to May 2014. The Pisa 2015 will introduce both paper and computer based tests beside background questionnaires.
Since the Pirls assessment is still taking part in two years’ time, 2016, field trials for schools will only be announced during 2015, and this is when exact dates for training will be re-confirmed.
Even though the UAE has earned first place in Timss and Pirls 2011 among the Arab countries participating in the last international assessment cycle, results for schools across the emirate of Abu Dhabi were under the required international benchmark. A total of 239 private and public schools with 8,768 pupils participated in the 2011 Timss and Pirls.
Staff Report
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
