sou · H4B325 · 2016-10-18 00:00:00 — För att åstadkomma en teknisk och vetenskaplig förankring på övergripande nivå och kunna diskutera gemensamma principiella frågor bör tillsätta en kvalitetsgrupp med svenska och utländska experter som har en god vetenskaplig kompetens och beprövad erfarenhet inom provutvecklingsområdet. Gruppen bör följa samt universitetens och högskolornas arbete med provutveckling, uppföljning och kvalitetssäkring. I kvalitetsgruppen bör det finnas experter med specialpedagogisk kompetens för att säkerställa dels att det redan i de nationella provens konstruktion tas hänsyn till de behov som elever med olika funktionsned- sättningar har, dels att proven i så stor utsträckning som möjligt blir användbara och tillgängliga för alla elever. De bedömningsstöd som utvecklar är mycket upp- skattade av lärarna. För att lärarna ska ha ett stöd för sin bedöm- ning i olika ämnen och kurser föreslår utredningen att ska fortsätta att utarbeta bedömningsstöd. Benämningen ska vara nationella bedömningsstöd. De nationella bedömningsstöden bör vara digitaliserade som de nationella proven, dvs. bör ansvara för processen att digitalisera bedömningsstöden. Som tidigare nämnts finns det ett antal otydligheter i dagens bedömningsstöd, t.ex. när det gäller syftena med stöden och vad som räknas som ett bedömningsstöd. För att komma tillrätta med dessa otydligheter anser vi att , utöver ett ramverk för de nationella proven, även bör ansvara för att ett gemensamt ramverk utarbetas för de nationella bedömningsstöden. För de betygsstöd- jande bedömningsstöden är behovet av ett ramverk extra tydligt. används de nationella proven som grund för kunskapsupp- följning på såväl nationell som lokal nivå. De nationella proven är dock inte utformade för att ge information som är jämförbar , vilket gör att de inte är lämpliga att använda för trendmätning. Erfarenheterna från de internationella studierna, t.ex. och TIMSS, visar att det är möjligt att utveckla utvärderingar som tillåter bestämning av trender inom länder. För att kunna mäta svenska elevers kunskapsutveckling och därigenom få mer kunskap om det svenska skolsystemet före- slår utredningen att en försöksverksamhet med ett nytt system för nationell kunskapsutvärdering (NKU) ska inledas. Syftet med NKU ska vara att ge information om kunskapsutvecklingen på nationell nivå . Försöket ska genomföras digitalt i form av stickprovs- undersökningar. Arbetet med NKU ska styras av ett gemensamt ramverk. Dessutom ska det utvecklas ämnesramverk för de ämnen som ingår i försöksverksamheten. Systemet ska innehålla ett omfat- tande antal uppgifter men varje elev behöver bara besvara ett urval. I en första omgång ska ämnet engelska i årskurs 9 i ingå i försöket med NKU. Den första försöksomgången ska genom- föras . Därefter ska försöksverksamheten succes- sivt utökas till att omfatta ämnena matematik och svenska i årskurs 9 i och den avslutande årskursen i gymnasieskolan (), NO-ämnena i årskurs 9 (), SO-ämnena i årskurs 9 () samt ämnesövergrip- ande kompetenser, t.ex. samarbetsförmåga, analysförmåga, kreativ- itet, motivation och digital kompetens i årskurs 9 i och den avslutande årskursen i gymnasieskolan (). NKU-proven i försöket ska åtföljas av enkäter till elever, lärare och rektorer. ska ansvara för den närmare utformningen av för- söksverksamheten. När det gäller utvärderingen av försöket ska eller någon annan aktör ansvara för den. resultaten av försöksverksamheten ska den aktör som utvärderar den också ta fram ett underlag så att regeringen kan ta ställning till om, och i så fall hur, NKU ska permanentas. Om NKU perma- nentas behöver beslut bl.a. tas om den fortsatta verksamhetens omfattning och inriktning. Vi har föreslagit en omfattande försöksverksamhet med NKU som sträcker sig över och där självt styr sin egen utvärdering som inte är kopplad till de internationella studierna. Ett alternativt upplägg skulle kunna vara att de internationella studierna kompletteras med ett antal tillagda uppgifter i form av en nationell modul. De tillagda uppgifterna skulle då svara mot de delar av svenska styrdokument som inte finns representerade i de internat- ionella studierna. Om regeringen vill gå vidare med det alternativa upplägget behöver det undersökas vidare. Om regeringen vill gå vidare med vårt förslag, men anser att försöket är alltför omfatt- ande och därmed kostsamt och tidskrävande, kan det minskas i omfattning. Utöver att ge information om kunskapsutvecklingen på nation- ell nivå skulle, som tidigare nämnts, uppgifter som inte längre används i NKU kunna användas för att skapa utvärderingsprov för uppföljning på skol- och huvudmannanivå. Dessutom skulle NKU- uppgifter som ersätts efter en genomförd omgång kunna användas i det nationella provet i samma ämne, under förutsättning att upp- gifterna är belagda med sekretess. Ekonomiska konsekvenser av utredningens förslag Utredningens förslag innebär såväl ökade som minskade kostnader. De besparingar som följer av förslagen är att det generella stats- bidraget till kommunsektorn kan minskas i och med att de nation- ella proven i NO- och SO-ämnen ersätts av bedömningsstöd och att de nationella proven i gymnasieskolan endast ska vara obligat- oriska i den högsta avslutande kursen i studievägen. Dessutom med- för digitaliseringen av de nationella provenminskade kostnader för huvudmännen vad gäller bedömningen av elevlösningar och för staten för tryck och distribution. De ökade kostnaderna för våra förslag består främst av kost- nader för digitalisering av de nationella proven och för NKU. Dessutom behöver en resursförstärkning för sitt arbete. I tabellen nedan sammanfattas de ökade och minskade kostnader som följer av utredningens förslag. A new national system for assessing knowledge The Inquiry on National Tests proposes a new national system for assessing knowledge, consisting of three components. The system comprises national tests, national assessment support materials and national knowledge evaluation. for Education will be given an overall remit to develop the national tests, assess- ment support and knowledge evaluation components. The remit will include disseminating information about the new system for assessing knowledge and its various components, and providing training in the system. A distinct purpose for each part of the knowledge assessment system The national tests currently serve two purposes: to support equal and fair assessment and grading, and to provide data for an analysis of the extent to which the knowledge requirements are met at school level, education authority level and national level. These two purposes are difficult to combine in the same test. The Inquiry therefore concludes that the purposes of the national tests should be clarified and the tests should in future be constructed for a single intended purpose. We propose that this purpose should be to support grading. This will enable the national tests to reinforce equal grading and strengthen pupils’ legal rights. The national tests should no longer be constructed for the purpose of providing data for an analysis of the extent to which the knowledge requirements are met at school level, education authority level and national level. This purpose will instead be served at national level by a new system for national knowledge evaluation. At school and education authority level, grades should be the primary source of data for an analysis of the extent to which the knowledge requirements are met. As a complement to the grades, local evaluation tests based on past national knowledge evaluation tasks can be used. for Education currently produces various types of assessment support materials. These vary considerably in their design. Because of the variation, it is difficult to obtain an overview of the existing types of assessment support. Moreover, the specific purpose of each type of assessment support material is un- clear. In view of this, we propose that the purpose of the different types of national assessment support should be clarified. Assess- ment support should be compulsory or for voluntary use by te- achers. Compulsory forms of assessment support should have a diagnostic purpose, i.e. they should be used to determine pupils’ knowledge levels with respect to syllabuses and knowledge requirements, and they should indicate pupils’ strengths and weak- nesses in the subject concerned. Voluntary assessment support should have one of three purposes: support for grading, diagnostic or formative. for Education shall disseminate informat- ion about the national tests and the various forms of national assessment support materials and their purposes. In addition, the for Education shall disseminate information about the purpose of national knowledge evaluation. At present, teachers conducting national tests take a predominantly positive view of the tests. Many consider that the national tests provide useful support in assessment and grading. Pupils also appreciate the national tests and the support they give the teachers in their grading, but many pupils find the tests stressful. The main downside from the teachers’ perspective is that the national tests are time-consuming. Teachers report that it takes a great deal of time to conduct the tests, mark and assess pupils’ answers and report and follow up on the results. In recent years the number of national tests has increased, par- ticularly in compulsory school and equivalent types of school. Subject tests have been introduced in mathematics, Swedish and Swedish as a second language in year 3. The tests in English, mathematics, Swedish and Swedish as a second language that were previously voluntary in year 5 have now been made compulsory and are conducted in year 6. National tests in science subjects and social science subjects have been introduced in years 6 and 9. How- ever, the year 6 tests in science and social science subjects were made voluntary in spring and were replaced by voluntary assessment support in spring . In view of the large number of national tests, the spring term of year 9 is felt by both pupils and teachers to be particularly test-intensive. The national tests are very time- consuming and interrupt teaching time. Research lends no real support to the idea that more tests improve teaching. Instead of national tests conducted at specific times, many teachers would prefer various types of assessment support that they can use in their teaching. The advantage of such support is that the teachers can use it as and when appropriate for their pupils and their teaching. The Inquiry considers that the number of com- pulsory national tests should be reduced and some of the tests should be replaced by national assessment support materials. However, pupils should take compulsory national tests at certain points in time in compulsory school, special school and school, as well as in upper secondary school and municipal adult education at upper secondary level, as the tests enable more equal grading and strengthen pupils’ legal rights. The term national tests should be used in all types of school.1 A reduced number of national tests The Inquiry proposes that the current national tests in mathematics, Swedish and Swedish as a second language in year 3 of compulsory school and school and year 4 of special school should be 1 National tests should also be given in municipal adult education in Swedish for immigrants (SFI). Different tests are used in SFI than in compulsory and upper secondary school. Inquiry’s remit therefore does not cover SFI. In cases where our proposals have direct consequences for tests in SFI, we have also made proposals on changes in those tests. In these cases it is a matter of consequential changes, not changes that materially affect the tests. One such change is that we propose that the term ‘national tests’ should be used in SFI as well. replaced by national assessment support. Assessment support should be compulsory for teachers to use. The assessment support should have a diagnostic purpose, i.e. it should be used to determine pupils’ knowledge levels with respect to syllabuses and knowledge requirements for their school year, and to indicate pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in the subject concerned. National tests should be held in years 6 and 9 of compulsory school and in upper secondary school. In special school, the same tests should be used as in compulsory school, but in years 7 and 10. The tests in year 6 of compulsory school should also be used in school. The tests that are used in upper secondary school should also be used in municipal adult education at upper secondary level. In years 6 and 9 of compulsory school, national tests should be held in the subjects English, mathematics, Swedish and Swedish as a second language. They should be compulsory for teachers to use and pupils to take. With regard to year 6, the national tests in science and social science subjects have already been replaced by voluntary assessment support. The same should apply in year 9, i.e. the present national tests in science and social science subjects in year 9 should be replaced by national assessment support designed to support grading, which should be for voluntary use by teachers. In upper secondary school, as at present, national tests should be held in the following courses: English 5 and 6, mathematics 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Swedish and Swedish as a second language 1 and 3. As upper secondary school is course-based, the grades in each course have a decisive influence on pupils’ final grades and their chances of obtaining a place in higher education. The more advanced courses in English and mathematics are particularly important since, in addition to contributing to eligibility for higher education, they can also give extra credit points. For this reason we propose that the national tests should be compulsory for teachers to use and pupils to take only in the highest final course in the programme. In the other courses, the national tests may be used on a voluntary basis. In addition, there will be voluntary national assessment support that provides support in grading and is similar to the national tests. In municipal adult education at upper secondary level, the national tests should be compulsory in those listed courses that a pupil is taking, just as at present. Our proposal means that the number of national tests a pupil will have to take will decrease as compared to the present situation. In year 9 of compulsory school, a pupil now has to take five com- pulsory tests; under the proposal, this number will fall to three. For most pupils in preparatory programmes for higher education at upper secondary school, the proposal will halve the number of compulsory tests as compared with the present situation. Oral test components in mathematics should be replaced by national assessment support to support grading The oral components of the national tests are very time-consuming to conduct. In English, Swedish and Swedish as a second language, the oral content makes up a large part of each subject. The subject of mathematics, on the other hand, does not place as much emphasis on oral content. Teachers consider that the ability to communicate mathematics can be more suitably assessed in classroom lessons than in a national test. The oral test components in mathematics are time-consuming without sufficiently increasing the basis for assessment available to teachers. In light of this, the Inquiry considers that oral test components in mathematics should be replaced by voluntary national assessment support to support grading. This will give teachers access to support that can be used in lessons when teachers consider it appropriate. The assessment support also sends a signal that communication is important in mathematics, but there are better ways to test this ability than by a national test. As regards the oral test components in English, Swedish and Swedish as a second language, we consider that in the longer term these should be recorded. This will provide documentation of the oral test components and facilitate co-assessment. These regulations should apply beginning when all national tests are computer-based and are conducted in a digital testing platform, so that the recordings can be processed by the system automatically. Time devoted to the national tests should be reviewed Even if the number of compulsory national tests decreases, there is still a risk of timetable congestion. To minimise this risk, the amount of time required by the national tests should be reviewed. The ambition should be that the total time pupils spend on tests should decrease compared with today. This can be achieved in various ways, for example, by reducing the number of test components or the time required by each test component, or by altering the division between different types of tasks in the national tests. The current national tests consist of various types of tasks. Some of these only require short answers from pupils and are relatively easily assessed (e.g. multiple choice and short answer tasks). Others require longer answers from pupils and more complex assessments (e.g. essays, oral tasks and tasks in which pupils are required to show their solutions). The Inquiry considers that the national tests should have a reasonable balance between different types of tasks. At present, some national tests contain few multiple choice or short answer tasks. As a result, the precision of measurement offered by these tests is not adequate and they are also very time-consuming for teachers. When the national tests are produced, we therefore feel that the designers should consider what abilities can be assessed using some kind of multiple choice or short answer tasks. However, more complex tasks, such as essays, oral tasks and tasks in which pupils must show their working should still be a part of the national tests. The collection of national test results should be simplified In order to see whether the national tests work as grading support, the Inquiry considers that test results should continue to be collected at national level. At present, a great deal of data has to be submitted: not only pupils’ national test results, but also back- ground data. At upper secondary school level in particular, the background data is extensive. To facilitate reporting and reduce the time spent on it, we consider that the for Education should review its regulations with respect to what data education authorities are required to provide. The starting point for the review should be that only data necessary and useful should be collected. This may mean that some of the data that is collected at present will no longer be needed but also that new data is collected because it is necessary and needs to be used. In our view, teachers do not have to be involved in reporting the results. When the national tests are conducted digitally, it will be possible to have results reported automatically via the digital testing system. Until then, we consider that the education authorities should develop their procedures for the reporting of test results, for example by allowing an administrator or assistant to conduct the reporting. Measures should be taken to ease pupils’ workload during test periods The national test periods are considered stressful by pupils. Although the Inquiry proposes that the number of compulsory national tests should be reduced, measures can also be taken by education authorities and schools. We consider that principals and teachers should take measures to ease pupils’ workload during test periods. Measures should include timely information to pupils about the national tests, what will be tested and what is required of pupils. Pupils should also be given access to examples of tasks from past national tests. In addition, teachers should carefully plan their setting of other tests and hand-in assessments during national test periods. In the subjects that are tested, teachers should also try to limit the number of other tests and assessments to be submitted during the period in which the national tests are taken. Long-term cross-subject or cross-course planning is necessary to make things easier for pupils. Gradual digitisation of the national tests Digitisation of the national tests should be launched, and imple- mented in stages. In an initial stage, pupils in year 9 of compulsory school, year 10 of special school, in upper secondary school and in municipal adult education at upper secondary level should write national test essays on a computer. This requires the schools to have sufficient access to computers and to be able to guarantee that essays can be written digitally in a secure . In the Inquiry’s assess- ment, most schools have sufficient access to computers to allow pupils in year 9 of compulsory school and in upper secondary school to write their essays on a computer. However, the problem is that computer access varies quite considerably between schools. There may therefore be some schools that need to invest in hardware to be able to meet the requirement that pupils must write essays on a computer. In a second stage of the digitisation of the national tests, a pilot project of computer-based testing will be launched. This will be conducted between 2018 and 2021. In a third stage, the new digital national tests will be rolled out across the board. The aim is for all national tests to be digitised by 2022. Principals and teachers should be offered training in con- nection with this. Example test tasks should also be available to help pupils prepare for the national tests. equal assessment of the national tests To ensure that teachers assessing national tests do not know the pupils’ identities, thus risking an assessment that is influenced by their personal relationship with the pupil, and to ensure that fewer pupils perceive assessments as unfair, the Inquiry proposes that pupils’ answers in the national tests be made anonymous for marking when the tests have been undertaken on a computer. In the initial stage, this proposal means that pupils’ essays in year 9 of compulsory school, year 10 of special school, in upper secondary school and in municipal adult education at upper secondary level should be made anonymous for marking. As the national tests become digitised, all pupils’ answers can gradually be made anonymous. Under our proposal, in the second stage all pupils’ answers in the national tests in all year groups would be made anonymous for marking. This should be possible no later than , when all national tests are due to be computer-based. External assessment, i.e. when the assessment is made by some- one other than the teacher who has taught the pupil, can help make assessments more equal and strengthen pupils’ legal rights. reason, we recommend that a higher degree of external assessment be trialled. We therefore propose that a pilot project of external assessment of national tests be undertaken as part of the trial of computer-based tests. This will be conducted between 2018 and 2021. Co-assessment of pupils’ answers should also be trialled in the pilot project. Design of pilot project on computer-based tests, external assessment and co-assessment The pilot project of computer-based national tests, external assessment and co-assessment proposed by the Inquiry should be planned and executed by the for Education. In the planning phase, the Agency should adopt guidelines and decide on the content of the pilot project, and make the necessary preparations with respect to technology, security, the development of new test tasks, assessment of the national tests and reporting of test results, for example. should also select which schools among compulsory schools, special schools, upper secondary schools and municipal adult education at upper secondary level are to be involved in the pilot project.