Ministry of Education proposes national assessment standards for primary and secondary education

The Ministry of Education and Research has launched a public consultation on a draft order on the introduction of national assessment standards for primary and secondary education, a measure that aims to increase the objectivity and comparability of student grading at the national level. According to the ministry, the new standards do not change the current grading system, but provide teachers with a common framework for assessing skills.

• A common framework for awarding grades

Interim Minister of Education and Research, Mihai Dimian, explained that the assessment standards aim to harmonise the way grades are awarded in schools in Romania, without changing the current grade-based system. "The assessment standards represent an important step towards a more objective, transparent and fairer assessment of students. They do not change the current grading system in pre-university education, but they provide teachers with a common frame of reference, which allows for better harmonization of grades awarded in schools in Romania", stated Mihai Dimian.

According to him, the objective is for student results to be comparable between educational units, which could allow, in the future, the use of annual averages alongside the results of national assessments in various decision-making processes in the educational system.

• Three levels of performance for each competence

According to the Ministry of Education, the standards describe what a student must know and be able to do for each specific competence in the school curriculum, with three levels of performance being defined: basic, consolidated and advanced. The institution emphasizes that these standards do not replace the competencies provided for in school programs, but transform them into clearer and easier to apply evaluation criteria. At the same time, the ministry specifies that the standards represent instruments through which the grades awarded can be justified in an objective and transparent manner, without modifying the current grading system in pre-university education.

• Developed within the RECRED project

According to the Ministry of Education and Research, the standards were developed within the RECRED project, together with the methodology for their application. They complement the other two components of the National Curriculum - the framework plans and school programs - and are in line with the new National Curriculum Reference Framework and the provisions of the Pre-university Education Law no. 198/2023.

The ministry indicates that, for the first time, an explicit national curricular evaluation framework is established, by defining performance levels for each specific competence in the programs of compulsory subjects.

• The basis for future national assessments

Ministerial representatives claim that the new standards will ensure a better correlation between the curriculum, the teaching process and the assessment of students, promoting the transition from a predominantly normative assessment to a criterion-based one, focused on skills, progress and feedback. The document also introduces a unified framework of performance descriptors, which will be the basis for the development of standardized assessment tools and the interpretation of student results. According to the Ministry of Education and Research, the standards will also constitute the foundation of future national assessments, the development of item banks and the consolidation of a culture of assessment based on skills.