ROMA NIA THE MINISTR Y OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH , YOUTH AND SPORTS

1. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER Introductory note for the WG 1 Social Inclusion – Achievements of Students at Risk The regional meeting “Turning Research into Practice – Learning from PISA” The Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe– ERI SEE and the Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital (TFBHC) of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). Belgrade, 16-17 June, 2011 Roxana MIHAIL,PhD Head of the Research, Evaluation & Examination in Primary Education and Curriculum Area “Arts and Physical education and Sports” Department and PISA National Coordinator www.rocnee.eu

2. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER ISSUES: The aim of the WG1 – Social Inclusion (Equity) Intro: achievements of students at risk (SaR) • To structure group interaction using the scenario provided: 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR; 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making; 3. Examples of good practice; www.rocnee.eu

3. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR Who are SaR? “those students being labelled either officially, or unofficially as being in danger of academic failure” • …. Demonstrating inadequacies in any arena of life: • The school contributing to academic failure when NOT • The home compensated in for another arena • The community OECD: “The personal, economic and social costs of academic underachievement are high and growing” www.rocnee.eu

4. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR An open inventory of factors influencing achievement of SaR: • Poverty • Race • Ethnicity • Language • Tracked into educational programmes labelled or stygmatised • Labelled as having “deficits” • ….. www.rocnee.eu

5. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR; Factors listed by The National Center for Educational Statistics (U.S.A): • Low socioeconomic status • Living in a single-parent home • Changing schools at non-traditional times • Below-average grades in middle school • Being held back in school through grade retention • Having older siblings who left high school before completion • Negative peer pressure • . • . • . • + constellations of factors! Could we identify other factors (specific, regional factors)? www.rocnee.eu

6. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR Once adopted, policies are turned into measures, programmes, initiatives, carrying out values! Approaches which were adopted by some countries, but with questionable effectiveness concerning SaR: - ability grouping - grade retention - special education programmes - pull-out programmes (students being removed and offered remedial instruction in particular subjects) www.rocnee.eu

7. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR • Alternative approaches which proved more successful in dealing with SaR: • Focus on students’ assets (eg.: valorising Rroma students innate abilities for music or traditional crafts) • Varied teacher strategies • Meaningful learning in collaborative settings • School emphasis on high expectations for all students • Parents involvement (eg.: “parents school” programmes) • Interdisciplinary teacher teams, each member assuming specific responsibilities for the success of each student • Heterogeneous grouping = detracking • Individualised learning through: • - personalised assignments • - collaborative learning / peer tutoring www.rocnee.eu

8. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 1. Different aspects influencing achievement of SaR • Alternative approaches which proved more successful in dealing with SaR (continued): • New assessment strategies: • - oral interviews • - science experiments • - students portfolios highlighting growth over time • Family involvement: • - parents reading with children • - limiting TV viewing • - controlling computer time • - helping with homework • - monitoring leisure activities • - communicating and listening with and to children • - praising and rewarding success • - serving in teams that help make curricular decisions • Community involvement: • - groups / individuals (eg.: volunteers) supporting families and schools combat substance abuse and violence • - strengthening child-raising skills • - mentoring and tutoring students • - coordinating social services www.rocnee.eu

9. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making OECD-PISA levels of proficiency are fair predictors of future educational and work-related career Eg.: Canada longitudinal study : “… from the 9% of students scoring below Level 2 in reading in PISA 2000 two-thirds had not progressed to post-secondary education and only 10% of them reached university. In contrast, only 7% of those proficient at Level 5 in Reading had not pursued any form of post secondary education” “Level 2 on PISA reading scale = useful benchmark for countries as it assists them in identifying the population that is at greater risk of leaving school early or not achieving its full potential” www.rocnee.eu

10. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making • Definition of Level 2 of Reading scale as a baseline in PISA • Students: • “Are capable of tasks such as locating information that meets several criteria, comparing or contrasting against a single feature in the text, working out what a well-defined part of a text means, even when the information is not prominent and making connections between the text and personal experience” • Below Level 2: • May have learned to read, but they struggle with using reading for learning! • “From an equity perspective, this is a critical group of students. These students are disadvantaged by their performance, particularly from an international perspective, as they move beyond education and into increasingly globalised labour markets” (OECD- PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming Social Background, vol. 2) www.rocnee.eu

11. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making • Eg.: • The “case of resilient students” • Resiliency is the ability to adapt and succeed despite risk and adversity. Resilient individuals commonly exhibit the following traits: • Social competence • Problem-solving skills • Autonomy • A sense of purpose and future • PISA: “resilient students are those who come from disadvantaged socio-economic background and perform much higher than would be predicted by their background” • Essential: •  to include policy measures targeting the increase of the number of these students at national level, or to change “the curriculum philosophy” in order to embed these values for all? www.rocnee.eu

12. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making • OECD report - Designing policies to improve equity in educational opportunities: • Targeting low performance, regardless of students’ background, either by targeting low-performing schools, or low-performing schools, depending on the extent to which low performance is concentrate by school; • Targeting disadvantaged children through a specialised curriculum, additional instructional resource and economic assistance for these students; • While policies targeted at disadvantaged children can aim at their performance in school, they can also be used to provide additional economic resources to these students; • More universal policies rely mainly on raising standards for all students; • Inclusive policies strive to include marginalised students into mainstream schools and classrooms www.rocnee.eu

13. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER • 2. Importance of Evidence Based Policy Making • Research carried out by McKinsey & Co between May 2006-March 2007: • What high-performing school systems have in common and what tools they use to improve student outcomes? • Three things matter most: • Getting the right people to become teachers • Developing them into effective instructors • Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction to every child • “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers” • “The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction” …. • …. Putting in place mechanisms to assure that schools deliver high-quality instruction to every child” www.rocnee.eu

14. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 3. Examples of good practice Opening up an inventory of good practices working at regional level? www.rocnee.eu

15. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 3. Examples of good practice Possible! The National Programme for “Developing Assessment and Evaluation Teachers’ Competences in Pre-University Education (DeCeE) Romania • The programme main aim: to develop teachers’ competences as evaluators needed both in day-to-day classroom assessment, and in external, national examinations • The challenges of the programme were: how to motivate teachers to identify / project significant examples of assessment techniques and instruments for individual students learning needs?  how to stimulate teachers of different subjects to work together for assessing key competences? www.rocnee.eu

16. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER 3. Examples of good practice The National Programme for “Developing Assessment and Evaluation Teachers’ Competences in Pre-University Education (DeCeE) The innovative & creative aspects of the programme: Developed in co-authorship by NCAE practitioners together with university professors  Successfully implementing “the cascade model” from national to regional level  Consolidating the partnership with the national network of Teacher Houses (professional expert resource centers at county level)  Purposefully shifting the focus from theory to practice in in-service teacher training  Covering “an open field” uncovered by pre-service, initial teacher training www.rocnee.eu

17. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER Group discussion: How Evidence Based Policy Making might contribute to the Equity in education Major preconditions: resources and limitations  Key stakeholders and data collection processes How to create more supportive environment for EBP and equity in education Efficient usage of evidences www.rocnee.eu

18. ROMANIA THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, YOUTH AND SPORTS THE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR ASSESSMENT AND EXAMINATIONS THE ROMANIA PISA NATIONAL CENTER References: 1. OECD (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming Social Background. Volume II. Paris. OECD Publications. 2. McKinsey & Co (2007). 3. Informationregarding the NCAE and PISA ROMANIAis availableon: www.edu.ro and www.rocnee.ro THANK YOU! www.rocnee.eu