Evaluation and Assessment of Key Competences in Denmark

1. Dublin, March 2013 Evaluation and Assessment of KeyCompetencesin Denmark Steen Lassen, senior advisor The Ministry of Children and Education, Denmark Benvido a Dublin

2. I: The ‘Folkeskole’ – internal and externalevaluation II: Upper Secondary Education – competences at final exam III: Digital assessment with access to internet

3. I

4. The ”Folkeskole” • Is the Danish municipal primary and lower secondary school • First School Act from 1814 introducing compulsory education for all • Consists of one year of pre-school and nine years of primary and lower secondary • 98 municipalities • 1.605 municipal schools • 600.000 students • 51.000 teachers • Average number of students per class is 19,6 • Internal and external evaluation

5. Internalevaluation • Regularevaluations of the students’ learningoutcomeare to becarried out • Marks from form level 8 • Responsibility for schoolassessment is primarilyplacedlocally • Recent initiativesafter • PISA-surveys - lowacademic performance • OECD-review of Denmark (2004) – lack of evaluationculture • Governmentstrategy – 95% of the students intofurthereducation focus on initiatives to improve the culture of evaluation

6. National tests • Obligatory national tests in order to follow the individual students’ acquisition of knowledge and skills • Danish in grade 2, 4, 6 and 8 • English in grade 7 • Math in grade 3 and 6 • Geography in grade 8 • Biology in grade 8 • Physics/chemistryin grade 8

7. All tests are computer based • All tests are adaptive (continouslyadapted to the individual student: incorrectanswer->easierquestion, correctanswer-> more difficultquestion) • Resultsare to bekeptconfidential (except on national level) • Parentsareinformed in writingabout the results • Tests areregarded as a pedagogicaltool for the teacher to beused in the planning of the further programme • National tests areevaluated in 2013 • do theyhelp to increase the academiclevel ? • do theyimprove the culture of evaluation ?

8. Student plans • To strengthen an ongoingevaluation • A written student plan for all students at all levels • Contain information about the results of the ongoingevaluations • Prepared at leastonceeachschoolyear • A single model for the form has not beenintroduced – is the responsibility of the schoolboards • At most schools the plans arehanded out to students and parents for school-home meetings • ”Hence, most teachers do not bring out the student plan and use it as a tool for the continuousassessment in day-to-daywork” (EVA, 2008)

9. Externalevaluation, school-leaving • Examinations in sevensubjects • Fivecompulsory: - written and oral in Danish - written in Math - oral in English • oral in science/chemistry • And twoexaminationsaredrawn at random by the Ministry • Standard rulesensureuniformitythroughout the country • Papers for writtenexaminationare set and marked centrally

10. II

11. General Upper Secondary, the ‘Gymnasium’ • Three different 3-year academic programmes qualifying for access to highereducation: • General Upper Secondary Programme • Commercial Upper Secondary Programme • Technical Upper Secondary Programme • 245 self-governing institutions • 139.000 students (65% of a cohort) • Average number of students per class is 28

12. Internal and externalevaluation • Each student regularlyreceives term marks in all subjects • And final marks when a subject is completed • The goal is to strengthenongoingevaluation and evaluationculture • Certainexaminationsarecompulsory in the education programme • The Ministrydecideseachyearadditionalsubjects for the individual student • The Ministryformulates all writtenexaminationquestions • The Ministryappointsexternalexaminers for all examinations, both oral and written

13. Examination • Designed to test competencesratherthenmemorization (usingtheory/methodsratherthanrepeatingthem; e.g. previouslyunseentext) • At most examinations the student may utilise all types of aids, including ICT (no communication) • Examination in 9 subjects for each student • Written, oral, case/project and mixed forms (different competences)

14. Forms of examination • Major written assignment; 15-20 pages; specialized study project • Multi-subject coursework; synopsis; oral examination • Written examination; paperbased; 4 or 5 hours • Written examination; access to internet • Oral examination; preparation time e.g. ½ hour • Oral examination; preparation at home 24 hours • Oral examination; group with individual marking • Oral examination; project-based; possibly randomized question

15. III

16. Strategy Fig. 1: Student in the classroom

17. Strategy Fig. 2: Student duringexam

18. ICT and exam • 1994 option in a fewsubjects, mainlywordprocessing • 1997 in commercial and technical: permitted in all writtenexaminations • 2000 allowed in all programmes • 2000 in commercial: 98% of the students used a pc at the writtenexamination in Danish

19. ICT-basedexamassignments • Since 2001 in the programmes hhx and htx (commercial and technical upper secondary) • Subjects: Danish, Math, Business Economics, Physics and English • CD-rom, no connection to the internet • Student paper still printed on paper

20. Example from Danish • Opgave ALaurits Munch-Petersen: "Tre på en motorcykel".Kortfilm, 2001.Vist på DR1, august 2002.Varighed: 7 min. 58 sek. • Foretag en analyse og fortolkning af ”Tre på en motorcykel”. New media

21. Example from physics Opgave 1: Model af broklap For at undersøge en planlagt bro er der blevet lavet en model, der skal vise hvor stærk og holdbar broen er. Den består blandt andet af en broklap, der kan hæves og sænkes. Først er det blevet undersøgt, hvordan broklappen bevæger sig, når den er blevet løftet, og falder ned igen uden modstand.  Figur 1 Broklap der er hævet (til venstre) og sænket (til højre) Vedlagt er data fra en måling af broklappens fald, dels som tekst fil og dels i Excel format.  Dataene består af 5 kolonner: Tid efter start på faldet, broens overflades vinkel med vandret både i radian og i grader, vinkelhastigheden og endelig tyngdekraftens kraftmoment på broklappen om broklappens hængsel. 1.000 datas for calculations

22. Access to internet • Started January 2008, first exam assignments in June 2010 • The subjects are in General Upper Secondary: Danish, Math and Social Science • - and in Commercial Upper Secondary: Business Economics, Marketing and International Economics • from 2014 also English as foreign language

24. Example from Social Science

25. How to avoid cheating? • The problem is not new, students have always been cheating • Teach the students academic standards (part of the curriculum: how to use the Internet, rules for quotation etc) • Type of assignment, testing competences/use and not just repetition • Focus on the consequences: exclusion from exam – next possibility June next year • All exam papers will go through copy-control / plagiarism control on the internet (not readyyet)

26. Research team, summary • Conclusion in final report: mission completed successfully • Recommendation: the pilot continues – and extension to other subjects • The competences needed for higher education are strengthened • The exam assignments give fair opportunities for both weak and strong students • The exam assignments tested the intended goals • Academic competencies have been strengthened in daily lessons by use of the internet almost every day

27. ICT-skills learned from the pilot-subjects are used in other subjects • Use of new media is increased in daily lessons

28. Thankyou e-mail: steen.lassen@ktst.dk