Assess schools for better results

To be effective, reforms must percolate beyond the national and state-level and down to individual schools

The government has affirmed its commitment to reform education through the National Education Policy (NEP). A key focus of the NEP is to transform assessments "from primarily testing rote-memorisation skills to one that is more diagnostic and tests higher-order skills."

To be effective, these reforms must percolate beyond the national and state-level and down to individual schools. The NEP has proposed examinations in classes 3, 5 and 8 that will test understanding of core concepts and higher-order skills. The results of these tests will be used for 'developmental purposes', implying support to teachers of these schools. Since close to 50 per cent of students in India study in private schools, a mechanism is needed so that these schools can be supported in the process and can take greater ownership of the reforms.

Building on the NEP’s suggestion to assess and accredit all schools on the same benchmark, we propose a mechanism by which every non-government school will be required to participate in independent annual assessments conducted by an empanelled agency. The government would empanel these assessment agencies through a transparent process based on their research-based approach and track record of working with schools. Multiple agencies should be empanelled so that at least three are available to schools in every state. Thus, schools will necessarily have to undergo an external annual assessment but will have the flexibility to choose the agency.

Certain classes will be compulsorily assessed, though schools may voluntarily include other classes. Based on both absolute performance and improvement compared to the previous year, each school will be given a score. For the first three years, these scores will be shared only with the school and after that schools will be required to share them on their website and a state standards' website making the information transparent. Once the system is well-established, the government may consider allowing greater autonomy to higher-rated schools.

Students will be assessed in Mathematics, Science, the medium of instruction and optionally other subjects. Agencies will charge schools for these assessments within government-specified limits.

On the question why would parents and schools agree to pay for these assessments? Parents will receive valuable information on their children's performance while schools will receive aggregated class-wise and comparative (anonymised) performance with other schools. Agencies would need to demonstrate value to win the school's trust. They can do this by being responsive to their questions, explaining how their assessments measure core learning and offering additional teacher workshops. The results will be based on statistical analyses of hundreds of school tests and this cannot be manipulated by a few schools or an agency.

All this is in line with the NEP's call to shift from "the overemphasis on inputs.. (while) incorporating educational outcomes and transparent disclosure in the assessment of schools."

Currently, India may not have enough capable assessment agencies to support this initiative. This programme will lead to agencies developing these capacities. Governments would hold these agencies to high standards of rigour and integrity.

Other countries too mandate schools to have learning outcomes regularly assessed by independent empanelled agencies. In Dubai, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority has empanelled agencies and mandated annual testing. Better-performing schools are allowed to charge higher fees.

The proposed mechanism can be a win-win-win for students, schools and the country. Students benefit because of the focus on learning in line with career goals. The best schools get recognised while all receive feedback that helps them improve. With no additional public expenditure, the country's assessment capabilities improve and stakeholders align towards improving student learning levels and skills. Reliable, anonymised data on student learning – invaluable for policy-making and research – gets generated. All of this will help achieve the NEP's vision of transforming assessments and improving student learning outcomes.

(The writer is co-founder and chief learning officer, Educational Initiatives)