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The External Evaluation of Educational Achievements among Primary School Pupils in the Republic of Croatia: An Overview of Models

Issues of quality assurance in education as well as the external evaluation of education are significant issues that concern creators of educational policy inasmuch as researchers working in the area of education. During the last decade, a number of changes in the educational system as well as primary school education have taken place in the Republic of Croatia. One of the more significant changes in primary school education is the introduction of external evaluation. For the purpose of external evaluation a separate governmental institution -- the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education (public authorities for the external evaluation of pre-school, primary and secondary education) was founded. In this paper, the basic and most important information on the developed model of external evaluation of primary schools devised by the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar in Zagreb is presented. The Pilar Institute is the leading scientific research institution in the area of social sciences in Croatia and through its scientific research work on the external evaluation of primary schools in collaboration with the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education it guaranteed the transfer of good research practices. Until now, two external evaluations of primary schools have been conducted in two consecutive school years. During the school year 2006/2007, an external evaluation of pupil achievements in Croatian and Mathematics was conducted. All schools participated but this did not include all pupils as the sample was restricted to a sample of pupils. By its very nature, this evaluation was experimental and principally served to test the devised model of external evaluation. During the school year 2007/2008, a complete external evaluation of pupils’ achievements was conducted. This included 844 primary schools in all and all pupils that were in grades 4 and 8 at these schools. In total, 48, 232 grade 4 pupils and 46, 196 grade 8 pupils participated. This research was conducted on a voluntary basis in which parents gave their informed consent for participation in the external evaluation. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The achievements of pupils in a number of subjects at the end the first (grade 4) and second (grade 8) cycle of compulsory education was evaluated. This included: Croatian, Science and Social Studies, and foreign languages in the first cycle ; Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, English, German and French in the second cycle. Besides these individual tests, evaluation included the testing of competence and capabilities of pupils to solve integrated problem tasks. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Within the framework of the external evaluation model, a system of informing the public about the results was developed. This included the presentation of achievements at the state level and at the county level as well as reports to particular schools in the form of detailed school reports that contained all the results of scholastic achievements, comparing scholastic achievements with national results. Since the external evaluation of primary school educational achievements included almost 15, 000 teachers, professional collaborators, school principals, and experts with different profiles a large number were included in different forms of training for the conduct of this study in primary schools. Many are now familiar with the standardised approach of external evaluation of educational achievements of lower primary and higher primary classes. Their feedback is evidence of a positive attitude towards external evaluation as well as the desire that it is continued in the future. References Burusic, J. ; Babarovic, T. ; Sakic, M. (2008). Vanjsko vrednovanje obrazovnih postignuća u osnovnim školama Republike Hrvatske - učenici 4. razreda (The External Evaluation of Educational Objectives in Croatian Primary Schools - 4th grade Primary School Students ), Zagreb: Institut drustvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar. Burusic, J. ; Babarovic, T. ; Sakic, M. (2008). Vanjsko vrednovanje obrazovnih postignuća u osnovnim školama Republike Hrvatske - učenici 8. razreda (The External Evaluation of Educational Objectives in Croatian Primary Schools - 8th grade Primary School Students ), Zagreb: Institut drustvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar. Burusic, J., Babarovic, T. (2007). Eksperimentalno vanjsko vrednovanje obrazovnih postignuća u osnovnim školama Republike Hrvatske (The Experimental External Evaluation of Educational Objectives in Croatian Primary Schools), Zagreb: Institut drustvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar.

primary school; external evaluation; educational effectiveness; quality as

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