We will analyze the national external assessment at the end of the fourth grade, the forms in which it takes place, and it is possible to propose necessary changes so that it does not have a stressful effect on the entire system and on the students. This was stated by the Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Georgi Valchev, in response to a parliamentary question from MP Petar Petrov from “Vazrazhdane“.
According to Petar Petrov “for years, primary school teachers, thousands of specialists, as well as some trade union organizations, have been appealing and proposing that the national external assessment at the end of the fourth grade be canceled“.
The national external assessment is related to the application to the mathematics high schools from the fifth grade, but we will conduct a comprehensive review and make specific decisions, the Minister of Education explained. We will analyze this form separately; the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) has taken some steps to change it and make it more functional and less impactful on students and their families, said Minister Valchev, quoted by BTA.
„However, at the moment, the organization is as follows: the provision of Article 58 of Regulation No. 11 regulates in detail the manner in which the examination materials for the national external assessments are prepared and they are directly related to the relevant curricula. The Minister of Education and Science, by order, assigns the Institute of Education the activities of organizing and preparing the external assessment in the fourth grade“, he commented.
According to him, the Institute of Education develops a specification for each exam, which plans the type of tasks and their distribution by cognitive levels. In this way, it is guaranteed that the exam measures various knowledge, skills and competencies, and not just mechanical reproduction of information. When compiling the tasks in the national external assessment at the end of the fourth grade, teams are formed, which include teachers, university lecturers and specialists with the necessary expertise in the field of teaching methodology in Bulgarian language and literature, and in mathematics.
“The process of compiling the test format goes through the following stages: selection of specialists to compile test tasks, expert assessment of each test task by two assessors, selection of tasks for the national external assessment, testing of tasks, analysis of the tested tasks, preparation of tests by an expert committee at the Ministry of Education and Science and expert assessment of the exam test by two assessors with scientific expertise“, explained the Minister of Education.