Nghe An Department of Education and Training will direct Vinh city not to set 5th grade exam questions that are too difficult.

5th graders struggle with final exams

Previously, for several consecutive years, Vinh City has organized periodic tests for 5th grade students across the city with a common test. The scores of this test have been the basis for the preliminary selection criteria for admission to Dang Thai Mai Secondary School - which is considered a specialized school in the city.

This exam, according to many parents, students and teachers, was too difficult, affecting students' year-end periodic assessment results.

Recess of students at Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School. Photo: SH

In 2017, the entire Vinh city did not have any Math test scores of 10, causing anger among parents. In recent years, scores of 10 have also been very rare. In 2017, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training also confirmed that the periodic Math test for grade 5 in the city exceeded the knowledge and skills standards and Vinh city also asked to learn from the experience.

In the 2019-2020 school year, according to the plan, the 5th grade periodic exam for students across the city will be held on July 7, 2020 with 2 subjects: Math and Vietnamese. In which, the time for Math is 40 minutes and for Vietnamese is 60 minutes.

Notably, the periodic test is given to all primary schools. At a time when students have to take a long break from school due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and the extremely hot weather, many parents assert that organizing the periodic year-end exam throughout the city will create pressure for parents, students and teachers. Meanwhile, the Ministry's policy is to reduce the workload and pressure from exams. Even in Nghe An, the provincial excellent student exam this school year was not held.

By this time, students from all schools have finished their exams. In particular, 5th graders are still studying to prepare for the year-end exams. Photo: SH

Regarding the issuance of common exam questions for the entire city, Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Thao - Head of the City's Department of Education and Training said: Before implementing the organization of periodic exams for grade 5, we reported and asked for permission from the Department. Currently, Circular 22 on the assessment of primary school students has periodic tests at the end of the year. Particularly for grade 5 students, there is an additional acceptance and handover of the quality of student education. On the city's side, organizing a common exam is a synthesis of both purposes.

The leader of the City Department of Education and Training said: Before creating questions for this year's exam, the Department directed schools to create questions and send them to the city to create a question bank. On that basis, the Department directed specialists to edit them to have a common question.

Not in accordance with the spirit of the instructions

According to the city's explanation, organizing a common exam will accurately assess the average level of students in the whole city. However, this is not in line with the spirit of the guidelines.Primary school student testing and assessment is carried out according to the consolidated documents of Circulars 22 and 30 of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Accordingly, in section 2b, article 15, it is stipulated that: For 5th grade students: the professional team sets up the final periodic test questions for the entire grade; organizes the supervision and grading of the test with the participation of teachers from the junior high school in the same area; the homeroom teacher completes the student assessment records and hands them over to the school.

Previously, Article 10 also stipulated: Periodic test scores are not used to compare one student with another. If the results of the first semester and year-end tests are abnormal compared to regular assessments, teachers can propose to the school that students take other tests to properly assess their learning outcomes.

Also with this regulation, the acceptance and handover of the quality of 6th grade students has been supervised by secondary school teachers during the exam invigilation and test marking process.

A class of Nghi An Primary School students. Photo: SH

Regarding this content, Mr. Nguyen Hong Hoa - Head of Primary Education Department - Department of Education and Training said: Through discussion, the Department knows about the periodic inspection form of Vinh city but does not have a document agreeing to the above plan.

Objectively, Mr. Hoa also said: The city has its own reasons for issuing common exam questions to accurately assess the quality between schools, avoiding the situation of "one school issuing easy questions, another issuing difficult questions. The high score of one school does not necessarily reflect better quality than another school". However, the Department's direction is that the issuance of exam questions must be implemented in accordance with the guiding circulars: The goal of this exam is to consider recognition of completion of the school year's program, not to serve the purpose of admission to key schools", Mr. Nguyen Hong Hoa added.

Discussing further on this issue, Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training said: We have discussed with the Department of Education and Training of the city that the questions must not be too difficult, challenging for students; suitable for the students' abilities, ensuring a common ground between schools to create objectivity and fairness. Especially avoid the situation of setting questions that only students who take extra classes can do, inadvertently encouraging the situation of illegal teaching and extra teaching.

Regarding the organization of the 5th grade periodic exam, Nghe An Newspaper also investigated in a number of localities and found that localities all directed schools to follow the guiding circular and the question setting was the responsibility of the school's professional team and the principal.

The leader of a primary school in Dien Chau district also said: Before the periodic test, the Department of Education and Training built a test matrix and trained teachers in test creation.

Once the instructions are in place, the school assigns the professional team to directly create the questions and the school board reviews them to ensure that the questions are in accordance with the process. In other words, creating separate questions does not ensure quality and does not accurately assess students' abilities between regions. It is also not accurate because when training the exam questions, schools have been instructed to have the proportion of questions (according to 4 levels including recognition, understanding, application and flexible application) equal, which will help the assessment be effective and accurate.

Previously, Cua Lo town also organized a joint exam (with the participation of school principals in setting the questions). However, this year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the town assigned schools to take the initiative in organizing the year-end periodic test for 5th graders and the test has now been completed.

Song Hoang - Hung Tien