THE WORLD BANK

UgandaSTUDENT ASSESSMENT SABER Country Report

2012

Key Policy Areas for Student Assessment Status

1. Classroom AssessmentIn Uganda, formal system-level documents, such as teaching syllabuses produced by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), provide guidelines for classroom assessment. These documents—as well as other system-wide resources, such as textbooks, which provide self-testing exercises at the end of each curricular topic—are available for teachers to engage in classroom assessment activities. Mechanisms are also in place to systematically ensure that teachers develop skills and expertise in classroom assessment. For example, pre-service teacher training for all teachers includes the development of skills and expertise in classroom assessment. However, classroom assessment practices are perceived to be weak.

2. ExaminationsThe Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examination has been administered every year since 1980 to grade 13 students. UACE results are used for certifying grade completion and determining admission to higher education institutions, as well as for monitoring education quality levels, planning education policy reforms, and for school and educator accountability. There are varied and systematic mechanisms in place to ensure the quality of the examination. For example, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) conducts a pilot and translation verification before the final examination is set. However, inappropriate behavior surrounding the examination process is high, and includes candidates using unauthorized materials, such as prepared answers and notes.

3. National Large Scale Assessment (NLSA)The National Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE) has been administered in Uganda at the primary level since 1996 and at the secondary level since 2008. NAPE is administered annually to students in grades 3 and 6 in Literacy and Numeracy, and every three years in Oral Skills in English. NAPE is also administered every year to students in Senior grade 2 in English, Mathematics, and Biology. Regular funding for NAPE is provided by the government and external sources, such as the World Bank. Although the group in charge of NAPE is a permanent unit within the Uganda National Examinations Board, there are too few staff members to adequately carry out assessment activities.

4. International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA)Uganda has participated in two international large-scale assessments, SACMEQ II (1999-2004) and SACMEQ III (2005-2009). Uganda has taken concrete steps to participate in SACMEQ IV (2010-2015). Funding for SACMEQ III was earmarked partly from the regular government budget, allocated at discretion, as well as from external sources. Although Uganda met all technical standards required to have its data from the SACMEQ exercises presented in the main displays of the international report, the results have not been covered in the media.

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UGANDA SABER STUDENT ASSESSMENT SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012

SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 2

Introduction

Uganda has focused on increasing student learningoutcomes by improving the quality of education in thecountry. An effective student assessment system is animportant input to improving education quality andlearning outcomes because it provides the necessaryinformation to meet stakeholders’ decision makingneeds. In order to gain a better understanding of thestrengths and weaknesses of its existing assessmentsystem, Uganda decided to benchmark this systemusing standardized tools developed under The WorldBank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results(SABER) program. SABER is an evidence based programto help countries systematically examine andstrengthen the performance of different aspects of theireducation systems.

What is SABER Student Assessment?

SABER Student Assessment is a component of theSABER program that focuses specifically onbenchmarking student assessment policies and systems.The goal of SABER Student Assessment is to promotestronger assessment systems that contribute toimproved education quality and learning for all.

National governments and international agencies areincreasingly recognizing the key role that assessment ofstudent learning plays in an effective education system.The importance of assessment is linked to its role in:(i) providing information on levels of student

learning and achievement in the system;(ii) monitoring trends in education quality over

time;(iii) supporting educators and students with real

time information to improve teaching andlearning; and

(iv) holding stakeholders accountable for results.

SABER Student Assessment methodology

The SABER Student Assessment framework is built onthe available evidence base for what an effectiveassessment system looks like. The framework providesguidance on how countries can build more effectivestudent assessment systems. The framework isstructured around two main dimensions of assessment

systems: the types/purposes of assessment activitiesand the quality of those activities.

Assessment types and purposes

Assessment systems tend to be comprised of threemain types of assessment activities, each of whichserves a different purpose and addresses differentinformation needs. These three main types are:classroom assessment, examinations, and large scale,system level assessments.

Classroom assessment provides real time informationto support ongoing teaching and learning in individualclassrooms. Classroom assessments use a variety offormats, including observation, questioning, and paperand pencil tests, to evaluate student learning, generallyon a daily basis.

Examinations provide a basis for selecting or certifyingstudents as they move from one level of the educationsystem to the next (or into the workforce). All eligiblestudents are tested on an annual basis (or more often ifthe system allows for repeat testing). Examinationscover the main subject areas in the curriculum andusually involve essays and multiple choice questions.

Large scale, system level assessments provide feedbackon the overall performance of the education system atparticular grades or age levels. These assessmentstypically cover a few subjects on a regular basis (such asevery 3 to 5 years), are often sample based, and usemultiple choice and short answer formats. They may benational or international in scope.

Appendix 1 summarizes the key features of these maintypes of assessment activities.

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Quality drivers of an assessment systemThe key considerations when evaluating a studentassessment system are the individual and combinedquality of assessment activities in terms of theadequacy of the information generated to supportdecision making. There are three main drivers ofinformation quality in an assessment system: enablingcontext, system alignment, and assessment quality.

Enabling context refers to the broader context in whichthe assessment activity takes place and the extent towhich that context is conducive to, or supportive of, theassessment. It covers such issues as the legislative orpolicy framework for assessment activities; institutionaland organizational structures for designing, carryingout, or using results from the assessment; theavailability of sufficient and stable sources of funding;and the presence of trained assessment staff.

System alignment refers to the extent to which theassessment is aligned with the rest of the educationsystem. This includes the degree of congruencebetween assessment activities and system learninggoals, standards, curriculum, and pre and in serviceteacher training.

Assessment quality refers to the psychometric quality ofthe instruments, processes, and procedures for theassessment activity. It covers such issues as design andimplementation of assessment activities, analysis andinterpretation of student responses to those activities,and the appropriateness of how assessment results arereported and used.

Crossing the quality drivers with the differentassessment types/purposes provides the frameworkand broad indicator areas shown in Table 1. Thisframework is a starting point for identifying indicatorsthat can be used to review assessment systems andplan for their improvement.

Table 1: Framework for building an effectiveassessment system, with indicator areas

The indicators are identified based on a combination ofcriteria, including:

professional standards for assessment;empirical research on the characteristics of effectiveassessment systems, including analysis of thecharacteristics that differentiate between theassessment systems of low versus high performingnations; andtheory—that is, general consensus among expertsthat it contributes to effective assessment.

Levels of development

The World Bank has developed a set of standardizedquestionnaires and rubrics for collecting and evaluatingdata on the three assessment types and related qualitydrivers.

The questionnaires are used to collect data on thecharacteristics of the assessment system in a particularcountry. The information from the questionnaires isthen applied to the rubrics in order to judge thedevelopment level of the country’s assessment systemin different areas.

The basic structure of the rubrics for evaluating datacollected using the standardized questionnaires issummarized in Appendix 2. The goal of the rubrics is toprovide a country with some sense of the developmentlevel of its assessment activities compared to best orrecommended practice in each area. For each indicator,the rubric displays four development levels—Latent,Emerging, Established, and Advanced. These levels are

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artificially constructed categories chosen to representkey stages on the underlying continuum for eachindicator. Each level is accompanied by a description ofwhat performance on the indicator looks like at thatlevel.

Latent is the lowest level of performance; itrepresents absence of, or deviation from, thedesired attribute.Emerging is the next level; it represents partialpresence of the attribute.Established represents the acceptable minimumstandard.Advanced represents the ideal or current bestpractice.

A summary of the development levels for eachassessment type is presented in Appendix 3.

In reality, assessment systems are likely to be atdifferent levels of development in different areas. Forexample, a system may be Established in the area ofexaminations, but Emerging in the area of large scale,system level assessment, and vice versa. While intuitionsuggests that it is probably better to be further along inas many areas as possible, the evidence is unclear as towhether it is necessary to be functioning at Advancedlevels in all areas. Therefore, one might view theEstablished level as a desirable minimum outcome toachieve in all areas, but only aspire beyond that in thoseareas that most contribute to the national vision orpriorities for education. In line with theseconsiderations, the ratings generated by the rubrics arenot meant to be additive across assessment types (thatis, they are not meant to be added to create an overallrating for an assessment system; they are only meant toproduce an overall rating for each assessment type).The methodology for assigning development levels issummarized in Appendix 4.

Education in Uganda

Uganda is a low income country in Sub Saharan Africa.In 2012, GDP per capita (current US$) was $547, withannual growth of 3.4 percent.

In Uganda, the first seven years of education are freeand compulsory for all children. As of 2011 (latest data

available), net enrollment at the primary level was 94percent; as of 2002 (latest data available), it was 16percent at the secondary level. Net enrollment of girls ishigher than boys at the primary level (95 percent forgirls and 92 percent for boys in 2011); however, it ishigher for boys at the secondary level (15 percent forgirls and 17 percent for boys in 2002).

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) in Ugandahas identified a number of priorities to further developits education system, including improving the quality ofprimary education through the introduction of locallanguage instruction, increasing the attractiveness ofthe teaching profession through the introduction of ascheme of service that creates a career ladder forteachers and school administrators, and ensuring thatall pupils successfully completing the first primary sevenyears of education have access to either academicsecondary education or Business, Technical, andVocational Education and Training (BTVET).

Detailed information was collected on Uganda’s studentassessment system using the SABER StudentAssessment questionnaires and rubrics. It is importantto remember that these tools primarily focus onbenchmarking a country’s policies and arrangements forassessment activities at the system or macro level.Additional data would need to be collected todetermine actual, on the ground practices in Uganda,particularly by teachers and students in schools. Thefollowing sections discuss the findings by eachassessment type, accompanied by suggested policyoptions. The suggested policy options were determinedin collaboration with key local stakeholders based onUganda’s immediate interests and needs. Detailed,completed rubrics for each assessment type areprovided in Appendix 5.

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Classroom Assessment

Level of development: EMERGING

In Uganda, several formal, system level documentsprovide guidelines for classroom assessment at theprimary and secondary level. Additionally, there aresome system wide resources available for teachers toengage in classroom assessment activities. For example,textbooks provide self testing exercises at the end ofeach topic.

Additionally, there are some system level mechanismsto ensure that teachers develop skills and expertise inclassroom assessment. For example, pre service teachertraining that is offered to teachers in Primary Teacher’sColleges and in the undergraduate Bachelor ofEducation degree program includes a topic on thedevelopment of skills and expertise in classroomassessment. Opportunities are also available every yearfor some teachers and Uganda National ExaminationsBoard (UNEB) examiners to participate in workshopsand conferences, as well as in item development for,and in scoring of, examinations. School inspection andteacher supervision also includes a component focusedon classroom assessment.

Informal and ad hoc activities to build teachers’ skillsand expertise in classroom assessment are also madeavailable in Uganda, including refresher courses onclassroom assessment, as well as conferences andworkshops organized for practicing teachers.

Varied and systematic mechanisms are in place inUganda to monitor the quality of classroom assessmentpractices. Specifically, classroom assessment is arequired component of a teacher’s performanceevaluation and of school inspection. There are alsosystem wide reviews of the quality of education, whichinclude a focus on classroom assessment.

At the same time, classroom assessment practices aregenerally considered to be weak. For example, teacherstend to construct their own assessments in a haphazardfashion, creating questions and essay prompts similar tothe ones that their teachers used. In addition, it is verycommon for classroom assessment activities to bemainly about recalling information.

In Uganda, classroom assessment information isrequired to be disseminated to all key stakeholders.Specifically, teachers are required to report classroomassessment information to the school, parents,students, School Management Committees and theBoard of Governors.

Classroom assessment information is also required tobe used to support student learning, includingdiagnosing student learning issues, providing feedbackto students on their learning, and as an input to anexternal examination program. Although teachers useclassroom assessment to inform their students’learning, informing their own teaching is not a mainreason why teachers typically carry out classroomassessment activities.

Suggested policy options:

1. Ensure a variety of resources are made available toteachers at the system level to provide support forclassroom assessment activities, such as scoring criteriaor rubrics for evaluating students’ work.

2. Review existing pre service and in service trainingmechanisms and adjust them to ensure that the trainingthat teachers receive in conducting classroomassessment is sufficient to ensure appropriate studentlearning. In service training should also be mademandatory after a specific number of years in theteaching service to refresh those who have taught forlong.

3. Ensure that teachers employ a variety of assessmentsthat go beyond knowledge recall and allow students toengage in higher order thinking skills, with emphasis onthe students’ ability to inquire, reason, and applyconcepts to real world situations.

4. Ensure that teachers evaluate their assessmentpractice and use assessment not only to measure astudent’s progress but also to acquire useful data toinform their own instructional practice.

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Examinations

Level of development: ESTABLISHED

The Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) isan examination that has been administered every yearsince 1980 to grade 13 students. Examination resultsare used for certifying grade completion anddetermining admission to university and other highereducation institutions, as well as for monitoringeducation quality levels, planning education policyreforms, and school or educator accountability.

The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), asemi autonomous body that is accountable to theMinistry of Education and Sports, is responsible forrunning the UACE. While UNEB has permanent, fulltime staff, there are too few staff members toadequately meet the demands of the examination.Specifically, one staff member is required to handlemany subject areas outside of his or her area ofexpertise. UNEB sometimes relies on externalspecialists, including the National CurriculumDevelopment Centre (NCDC) and university staff,teacher trainers, and secondary school teachers, toassist with examination activities.

There are some opportunities offered in Uganda toprepare for work on the examination. For example,Makerere University’s School of Education offersundergraduate and master’s degree courses oneducational measurement and evaluation. Additionally,UNEB sends eight to ten people to attend theAssociation for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA)conference and two people to attend the InternationalAssociation for Educational Assessment (IAEA)conference every year.

UNEB annually selects teachers to participate indeveloping the examination questions, creating markingguides, administering the examination, acting as a judgein orals, and supervising examination procedures.However, other than a four week training for theteachers involved in item development and marking ofthe examination, there are no courses or workshops onthe examinations available to teachers.

Some documentation about the technical aspects of theexamination is available, but it is not in a formal reportformat. At the same time, there are varied andsystematic mechanisms in place to ensure the quality ofthe examination. For example, UNEB conducts a pilot orfiled testing and translation verification before theexamination is finalized. UNEB also sends supervisorswho monitor the administration of the examination atUACE examination centers all over the country.

However, inappropriate behavior surrounding theexamination process is high. Inappropriate behaviorincludes leakage of examination content prior to theexamination, and using unauthorized materials such asprepared answers and notes during the examination.

In general, examination results are used by somestakeholder groups in a proper way. However, schoolsrelease the examination results to the media, whichpublish student’s names and grades. This practice is notin line with the guidelines of communicatingexamination results, and it is something that the schoolsand the media do without formal authority.

Students who do not perform well on the UACE havethe option of retaking the examination, attendingremedial courses to prepare for the examination andrepeating the grade. Students can also opt to attendless selective schools. In addition, some mechanismsare in place to monitor the consequences of theexamination. For example, there is a permanentoversight committee and studies that are updatedregularly.

Suggested policy options:

1. Ensure that UNEB has a sufficient number ofpermanent full time staff to meet the demands of theexamination. In addition, ensure that UNEB hasadequate facilities, including computers for all technicalstaff, in order to carry out the required examinationactivities.

2. Introduce courses or workshops on the examination,and make them widely available to teachers. Forexample, conduct workshops on the Report on theWork of Candidates (which analyses in detail thecandidates’ performance in the examination papers) to

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allow teachers sufficient time to address candidates’weaknesses.

3. Ensure varied and systematic mechanisms to monitorthe consequences of the examination. For example,allocate government funding for independent researchon the impact of the examination.

4. Ensure that the technical aspects of the examinationare contained in a formal report format that is easilyaccessible to all stakeholders.

5. Introduce preventive and reactive mechanisms tolimit inappropriate behavior surrounding theexamination. For example, make available for all keystakeholders a document that clearly definesinappropriate behavior during the examination processand specifies the consequences for engaging in suchbehavior. Ensure that the consequences areconsistently enforced.

6. Ensure that schools and the media comply with theguidelines of communicating examinations results.Measures for non compliance should be clearly statedand consistently enforced.

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National Large Scale Assessment (NLSA)

Level of development: ESTABLISHED

To monitor the effectiveness of the teaching learningprocess, the Government of Uganda has carried out theNational Assessment of Progress in Education (NAPE) atthe primary level since 1996 and at the secondary levelsince 2008. At the primary level, assessment isconducted annually in grades 3 and 6 in Literacy andNumeracy, and every three years in Oral Skills inEnglish. At the secondary level, students in the Seniorgrade 2 are assessed every year in English,Mathematics, and Biology. In addition, a sample ofteachers is assessed.

The Government White Paper on Education (Ministry ofEducation and Sports, 1992) is the formal policydocument that authorizes NAPE. In addition to thisdocument, a national large scale assessment plan forthe coming years exists in official communications andminutes of meetings.

Regular funding for NAPE is allocated by thegovernment and by non government sources, such asthe World Bank. Activities covered by the fundinginclude assessment design and administration, and dataanalysis and reporting. Due to the small resourceenvelope allocated for the assessment program fromboth government and non government sources, someactivities, mainly at the level of dissemination of NAPEfindings, are suppressed and others are squeezed.

The group in charge of NAPE is a unit within the UgandaNational Examinations Board. Although there ispermanent full time staff responsible for NAPE, thereare too few staff members to meet the needs of theassessment.

In Uganda, university courses (graduate andundergraduate) on educational measurement andevaluation are available on an annual basis; however,there are no opportunities to prepare individuals towork on NAPE. At the same time, teacher trainingcourses, workshops, and presentations are offered toteachers, head teachers, and District Education Officers.

A number of measures are taken to ensure the quality

of NAPE. For example, all administrators are trainedaccording to a protocol, there is a standardized manualfor the administrators, and a pilot is conducted beforethe main data collection takes place.

A comprehensive, high quality technical report on NAPEis available to the general public. The report broadlycovers an introduction to the assessment, surveyprocedures, and student achievement levels by subjectand grade. The report also presents challenges faced bythe schools and concludes with recommendations forthe future.

NAPE results are disseminated within 12 months afterthe assessment is administered. In addition,mechanisms are in place to monitor the consequencesof NAPE, including a permanent advisory committee,regular focus groups and surveys of key stakeholders,and expert review groups.

Suggested policy options:

1. Using official communications, minutes of meetings,and other resources, develop a formal, written planfor future NAPE activities.

2. Introduce funding for research and developmentactivities specifically for NAPE.

3. Ensure a variety of mechanisms are in place tomonitor the consequences of NAPE, such as fundingfor independent research on the impact of NAPE.

4. Establish and make regularly available opportunitiesthat prepare individuals for work on NAPE.

5. Ensure that sufficient funds from government andnon government sources are earmarked for NAPEactivities, including for the dissemination of NAPEfindings.

6. Ensure that NAPE has a sufficient number ofpermanent full time staff to meet the demands ofthe assessment.

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International Large Scale Assessment(ILSA)

Level of development: EMERGING

Uganda has participated in two international large scaleassessments, SACMEQ II (1999 2004) and SACMEQ III(2005 2009). In addition, Uganda has taken concretesteps to participate in SACMEQ IV (2010 2015). A pilotstudy of SACMEQ IV has been concluded, and theresults are being analyzed.

Funding for SACMEQ III was earmarked partly from theregular government budget, allocated at discretion, aswell as from external sources. Funding for SACMEQ IIIcovered implementation of the assessment exercise inUganda, processing and analyzing data collected fromthe assessment exercise, and reporting anddisseminating assessment results. In addition, fundingcovered attendance at international expert meetings, aswell as research and development activities. TheGovernment of Uganda is required to meet the costs ofadministering SACMEQ IV.

The team responsible for carrying out SACMEQactivities is comprised of the National Coordinator, whois the Minister of Education and Sports, and twoNational Research Coordinators, all of whom are fluentin the language in which the international levelmeetings are conducted. They have attended variousinternational workshops, meetings, and trainings. Theteam has previous experience working on internationalassessments and has the necessary training andexperience to carry out the required assessmentactivities effectively.

Individuals working directly on SACMEQ benefit fromthe opportunities to learn about internationalassessments. Master’s degree students studyingassessment or a related area are also invited to theinternational training workshops. Workshops that areheld in Uganda are only for individuals who are involvedin administering the SACMEQ questionnaires, andmaster’s degree students are not invited to theseworkshops.

Uganda met all technical standards required to have itsdata presented in the main displays of the international

report. In addition, Uganda has contributed to theglobal knowledge base on international assessments bygenerating new knowledge and making it availablethrough publications and presentations, which areavailable as SACMEQ National Reports, National PolicyBriefs, and Research Papers and Theses.

Although SACMEQ results have not been covered in themedia, they have been used by policymakers to informcurriculum improvement, teacher training programs,and resource allocation. For example, SACMEQ findingshave been used by the Ministry of Education and Sportsto inform the design of continuous assessmentguidelines for tutors in Primary Teacher Colleges (PTCs).SACMEQ findings have also been used to inform thecontent and delivery of pre service and in serviceteacher training programs to ensure that they are moreresponsive to teachers’ needs.

Suggested policy options:

1. Introduce a system level strategy and monitoringmechanisms to ensure that SACMEQ information iscommunicated effectively to all key stakeholders. Forexample, include provisions for all schools andeducators to receive feedback on SACMEQ results.Additionally, distribute national reports with SACMEQresults to stakeholder groups in electronic and printformats.

2. Collaborate with the media to ensure wide coverageof ILSA results, such as through newspapers, radio, andtelevision

Ensure that financial resources are earmarked fromboth government and non government sources to runSACMEQ activities.

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Appendix 1: Assessment Types and Their Key Differences

Classroom Large-scale assessment Surveys

Examinations

National International Exit Entrance

Purpose To provide immediatefeedback to inform classroom instruction

To provide feedback on overall health of the system at particular grade/age level(s), and to monitor trends in learning

To provide feedback on the comparative performance of the education system at particular grade/age level(s)

To certify students as they move from one level of the education system to the next (or into the workforce)

To select students for further educational opportunities

Frequency Daily For individual subjects offered on a regular basis (such as every 3-5 years)

For individual subjects offered on a regular basis (such as every 3-5 years)

Annually and more often where the system allows for repeats

Annually and more often where the system allows for repeats

Who is tested?

All students Sample or census of students at a particular grade or age level(s)

A sample of students at a particular grade or age level(s)

All eligible students

All eligible students

Format Varies from observation to questioning to paper-and-pencil tests to student performances

Usually multiple choice and short answer

Usually multiple choice and short answer

Usually essay and multiple choice

Usually essay and multiple choice

Coverage of curriculum

All subject areas Generally confined to a few subjects

Generally confined to one or two subjects

Covers main subject areas

Covers main subject areas

Additional informationcollected from students?

Yes, as part of the teaching process

Frequently Yes Seldom Seldom

Scoring Usually informal and simple

Varies from simple to more statistically sophisticatedtechniques

Usually involves statistically sophisticatedtechniques

Varies from simple to more statistically sophisticatedtechniques

Varies from simple to more statistically sophisticatedtechniques

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Appendix 2: Basic Structure of Rubrics for Evaluating Data Collected on a Student Assessment System

Dimension

Development Level

LATENT (Absence of, or deviation from,

attribute)

EMERGING (On way to meeting minimum standard)

ESTABLISHED (Acceptable

minimum standard)

ADVANCED (Best practice) Justification

EC—ENABLING CONTEXT EC1—Policies EC2—Leadership, public engagement

EC3—Funding EC4—Institutional arrangements EC5—Human resources

SA—SYSTEM ALIGNMENT SA1—Learning/quality goals SA2—Curriculum SA3—Pre-, in-service teacher training

AQ—ASSESSMENT QUALITY AQ1—Ensuring quality (design, administration, analysis)

AQ2—Ensuring effective uses

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Appendix 3: Summary of the Development Levels for Each Assessment Type

Assessment Type LATENT EMERGING ESTABLISHED ADVANCED

Absence of, or deviation from, the attribute

On way to meeting minimum standard

Acceptable minimum standard

Best practice

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

There is no system-wide institutional capacity to support and ensure the quality of classroom assessment practices.

There is weak system-wide institutional capacity to support and ensure the quality of classroom assessment practices.

There is sufficient system-wide institutional capacity to support and ensure the quality of classroom assessment practices.

There is strong system-wide institutional capacity to support and ensure the quality of classroom assessment practices.

EXAMINATIONS

There is no standardized examination in place for key decisions.

There is a partially stable standardized examination in place, and a need to develop institutional capacity to run the examination. The examination typically is of poor quality and is perceived as unfair or corrupt.

There is a stable standardized examination in place. There is institutional capacity and some limited mechanisms to monitor it. The examination is of acceptable quality and is perceived as fair for most students and free from corruption.

There is a stable standardized examination in place and institutional capacity and strong mechanisms to monitor it. The examination is of high quality and is perceived as fair and free from corruption.

NATIONAL (OR SYSTEMLEVEL) LARGE SCALEASSESSMENT

There is no NLSA in place.

There is an unstable NLSA in place and a need to develop institutional capacity to run the NLSA. Assessment quality and impact are weak.

There is a stable NLSA in place. There is institutional capacity and some limited mechanisms to monitor it. The NLSA is of moderate quality and its information is disseminated, but not always used in effective ways.

There is a stable NLSA in place and institutional capacity and strong mechanisms to monitor it. The NLSA is of high quality and its information is effectively used to improve education.

INTERNATIONAL LARGESCALE ASSESSMENT

There is no history of participation in an ILSA nor plans to participate in one.

Participation in an ILSA has been initiated, but there still is need to develop institutional capacity to carry out the ILSA.

There is more or less stable participation in an ILSA. There is institutional capacity to carry out the ILSA. The information from the ILSA is disseminated, but not always used in effective ways.

There is stable participation in an ILSA and institutional capacity to run the ILSA. The information from the ILSA is effectively used to improve education.

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Appendix 4: Methodology for Assigning Development Levels

1. The country team or consultant collects information about the assessment system in the country.

2. Based on the collected information, a level of development and score is assigned to each dimension in the rubrics:

Latent = 1 score pointEmerging = 2 score pointsEstablished = 3 score pointsAdvanced = 4 score points

3. The score for each quality driver is computed by aggregating the scores for each of its constituent dimensions. Forexample:

The quality driver, ‘Enabling Context,’ in the case of ILSA, has 3 dimensions on which a hypothetical country receives thefollowing scores: Dimension A = 2 points; Dimension B = 2 points; Dimension C = 3 points. The hypothetical country’soverall score for this quality driver would be: (2+2+3)/3 = 2.33

4. A preliminary level of development is assigned to each quality driver.

5. The preliminary development level is validated using expert judgment in cooperation with the country team and TheWorld Bank Task Team Leader.

For scores that allow a margin of discretion (i.e., to choose between two levels of development), a final decision has tobe made based on expert judgment. For example, the aforementioned hypothetical country has an ‘Enabling Context’score of 2.33, corresponding to a preliminary level of development of ‘Emerging or Established.’ Based on qualitativeinformation not captured in the rubric, along with expert judgment, the country team chooses ‘Emerging’ as the mostappropriate level.

6. Scores for certain key dimensions under ‘Enabling Context’ (in the case of EXAM, NLSA, and ILSA) and under ‘SystemAlignment’ (in the case of CLASS) were set as ceiling scores, i.e., the overall mean score for the particular assessmenttype cannot be greater than the score for these key dimensions. These key variables include formal policy, regularfunding, having a permanent assessment unit, and the quality of assessment practices.

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rder

andan

asterisk.

Theselectionmay

includ

easupe

rscriptnu

mbe

rthat

refers

tothejustificatio

nor

explanationforthe

selection(asindicatedby

athickbo

rder

andan

asterisk).T

heexplanationor

justificatio

ntext

canbe

locatedin

the“D

evelop

men

tlevelratingjustificatio

ns”

sectionat

theen

dof

each

rubric.Ifa

rowinclud

esasupe

rscript,bu

tnot

athickbo

rder

andan

asterisk,thismeans

that

insufficien

tinformationwas

availableto

determ

inetherelevant

selectionintherow.

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UGANDA

ClassroomAssessment

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ENABLINGCONTEXT

ANDSYSTEM

ALIGNMENT

Overallpo

licyan

dresource

fram

eworkwith

inwhich

classroom

assessmenta

ctivity

takesp

lace

inacoun

tryor

system

,and

thedegree

towhich

classroom

assessmenta

ctivity

iscoherent

with

othercom

ponentso

fthe

educationsystem

.LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

ANDSYSTEM

ALIGNMENT1:

Settingclearguidelinesforclassroomassessment

Thereisno

system

leveld

ocum

entthat

provides

guidelines

for

classroo

massessmen

t.

There

isan

inform

alsystem

level

documen

tthat

provides

guidelines

for

classroo

massessmen

t.

Thereisaform

alsystem

leveld

ocum

ent

that

provides

guidelines

forclassroo

massessmen

t.1

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

availability

ofthe

documen

tis

restricted.

Thedo

cumen

tisw

idelyavailable.

2

ENABLINGCONTEXT

ANDSYSTEM

ALIGNMENT2:

Aligning

classroomassessmentw

ithsystem

learning

goals

Thereareno

system

wideresourcesfor

teache

rsforclassroom

assessmen

t.Therearescarce

system

wideresources

forteachersfor

classroo

massessmen

t.Therearesomesystem

wideresources

forteachersfor

classroo

massessmen

t.3There

are

avarie

tyof

system

wide

resources

available

for

teache

rsfor

classroo

massessmen

t.

There

isno

official

curriculum

orstandardsd

ocum

ent.

There

isan

official

curriculum

orstandardsdo

cumen

t,bu

titis

notclear

whatstud

ents

areexpe

cted

tolearnor

towhatlevelof

performance.

There

isan

official

curriculum

orstandardsdo

cumen

tthat

specifies

what

stud

ents

areexpe

cted

tolearn,

butthe

levelof

performance

requ

ired

isno

tclear.

There

isan

official

curriculum

orstandardsdo

cumen

tthat

specifies

what

stud

ents

areexpe

cted

tolearn

and

towhatlevelof

performance.4

ENABLINGCONTEXT

ANDSYSTEM

ALIGNMENT3:

Havingeffectivehuman

resourcestocarryoutclassroom

assessmentactivities

Thereareno

system

levelmechanism

sto

ensure

that

teache

rsde

velop

skills

andexpe

rtise

inclassroo

massessmen

t.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

There

are

some

system

level

mechanism

sto

ensure

that

teache

rsde

velopskillsandexpe

rtise

inclassroo

massessmen

t.5

There

are

avarie

tyof

system

level

mechanism

sto

ensure

that

teache

rsde

velopskillsandexpe

rtise

inclassroo

massessmen

t.

*

*

*

*

*

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ASSESSMENTQUALITY

Qua

lityof

classroo

massessmentd

esign,ad

ministratio

n,an

alysis,

anduse.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ASSESSMENTQUALITY1:

Ensuring

thequality

ofclassroomassessment

Classroo

massessmen

tpractices

suffe

rfrom

widespreadweaknessesor

thereis

noinform

ation

available

onclassroo

massessmen

tpractices.

Classroo

massessmen

tpractices

are

know

nto

beweak.

6Classroo

massessmen

tpractices

are

know

nto

beof

mod

eratequ

ality

.Classroo

massessmen

tpractices

are

know

nto

begene

rally

ofhigh

quality

.

Thereareno

mechanism

sto

mon

itorthe

quality

ofclassroo

massessmen

tpractices.

Therearead

hocmechanism

sto

mon

itor

the

quality

ofclassroo

massessmen

tpractices.

Therearelim

itedsystem

aticmechanism

sto

mon

itor

the

quality

ofclassroo

massessmen

tpractices.

There

are

varie

dand

system

atic

mechanism

sin

place

tomon

itor

the

quality

ofclassroo

massessmen

tpractices.7

ASSESSMENTQUALITY2:

Ensuring

effectiveusesofclassroomassessment

Classroo

massessmen

tinformationisno

trequ

ired

tobe

dissem

inated

tokey

stakeh

olde

rs.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Classroo

massessmen

tinform

ation

isrequ

iredto

bedissem

inated

tosomekey

stakeh

olde

rs.

Classroo

massessmen

tinform

ation

isrequ

iredto

bedissem

inated

toallkey

stakeh

olde

rs.8

Thereareno

requ

ireduses

ofclassroo

massessmen

ttosupp

ortstude

ntlearning.

There

are

limite

drequ

ired

uses

ofclassroo

massessmen

tto

supp

ort

stud

entlearning.

There

are

adeq

uate

requ

ired

uses

ofclassroo

massessmen

tto

supp

ort

stud

entlearning,e

xcluding

itsuseas

aninpu

tfor

externalexam

inationresults.

There

are

adeq

uate

requ

ired

uses

ofclassroo

massessmen

tto

supp

ort

stud

entlearning,including

itsuseas

aninpu

tfor

externalexam

inationresults.9

*

* * *

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18

ClassroomAssessment

1.At

theprim

arylevel,tw

odo

cumen

tsprovideguidelines

forclassroom

assessmen

t:theNationalCurriculum

Developm

entC

entre(NCD

C)syllabu

sesfor

each

year

P1to

P7andtheTeache

r’sGu

ides

forP

1to

P3.Eachof

thesedo

cumen

tscontains

asectionon

guidelines

fora

ssessm

ent.Thereareno

Teache

r’sGu

ides

forP

4to

P7.

Thecurriculum

attheLower

Prim

arylevel(P1

toP3

)iso

rganize

dinaTh

ematicAp

proach,w

here

diffe

rent

them

eshave

been

develope

dandconten

ttobe

taught

isorganizedinbroadlearning

areasreferredto

asstrand

s.Em

phasisat

thisleveliso

nliteracy,nu

meracy,andlifeskills.

Thecurriculum

attheUpp

erPrim

arylevel(P4

toP7

)iss

ubjectbased,coverin

gEn

glish

,Mathe

matics,Integrated

Science,SocialStud

ies,LocalLanguage,Re

ligious

Stud

ies,Creativ

eand

PerformingArts.W

ithregard

toPrim

aryEd

ucation,NCD

Chasp

rodu

cedsyllabu

sesfor

all the

subjectsfore

achyear

forP

1to

P7andTeache

r’sGu

ides

forP

1to

P3.G

uide

lines

forclassroom

assessmen

tare

provided

attheen

dof

each

topicinthesyllabu

ses.Furthe

rdetailson

classroo

massessmen

tare

giveninthe

Teache

r’sGu

ides

forP

1to

P3.W

ithregard

tosecond

aryed

ucation,NCD

Chasp

rodu

cedteaching

syllabu

sesfor

OLevel(S1

toS4).Thereisateaching

syllabu

sfor

each

subjectfor

each

year

S1to

S4.The

sesyllabu

sesc

ontainguidance

onthemod

eof

assessmen

tbut

dono

tprovide

detailedguidelines

forclassroom

assessmen

tfor

each

topic.Therearealso

noTeache

r’sGu

ides

atthislevel.Thereareteaching

syllabu

sesfor

each

ofthe8core

and23

electiv

eOLevelsub

jects.

NCD

Chasrecen

tlyprod

uced

theteaching

syllabu

sfor

ALeveland

itcanbe

accessed

from

theNationalCurriculum

Developm

entC

entreweb

siteat

http://w

ww.ncdc.go.ug/alevels.html.

TheMinistry

ofEducationandSportshasa

lsode

velope

daCo

ntinuo

usAssessmen

tHandb

ookandGu

idelines

forT

utorsinPrim

aryTeache

rEdu

catio

ninUgand

a.Thisisaguideforind

ividuals(i.e.,tutors/teache

rtrainers)prep

aringstud

entteacherstoen

gage

incontinuo

usassessmen

tinprim

aryscho

ols.Althou

ghthis

Hand

book

ismainlyfortutorsinthePrim

aryTeache

r’sCo

lleges(PTCs),itisavaluableresource

onassessmen

tmechanism

sfor

teache

redu

cators,teacher

traine

esandpracticingteache

rsinprim

aryscho

ols.Th

ehand

book

canbe

accessed

from

theMinistry

ofEducationweb

site.

2.Th

eNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

each

year

P1to

P7areavailableto

thepu

blicthroughtheNationalCurriculum

Developm

ent C

entre,teache

rtraining

colleges,in

servicecoursesfor

teache

rsandleadingbo

okstores

inthecoun

try.Th

esyllabu

sesa

reprovided

free

ofcharge

toallgovernm

entaide

dscho

olsinthecoun

try.

Privatescho

olsc

anpu

rchase

copies

ofthesyllabu

sesfrom

NCD

Candbo

okstores.

TheNCD

CTeache

r’sGu

ides

forP

1to

P3areprovided

free

ofcharge

toallgovernm

enta

ided

scho

ols.Privatescho

olsc

anpu

rchase

theTeache

r’sGu

ides

from

NCD

Candbo

okstores.

TheNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

OLevel(S1

toS4)are

availablefrom

NCD

Candaresoldat

bookstores

inthecoun

try.

Thesesyllabu

sesc

analso

beaccessed

from

the

NationalCurriculum

Developm

entC

entreweb

siteat

http://w

ww.ncdc.go.ug/olevel.htm

l.

3.Th

eNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

each

year

P1to

P7andtheNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

OLeveloutlinewhatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

tolearnindiffe

rent

subjecta

reas

atdiffe

rent

gradelevels.

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19

Therecommen

dedtextbo

oksfor

prim

aryandsecond

aryed

ucationprovidesupp

ortfor

classroo

massessmen

t.Th

esetextbo

oksu

suallyprovideselftesting

exercisesa

tthe

endof

each

topic.NCD

Chaso

nlyprod

uced

theALevelEntrepren

eurshipLearne

r’sBo

okas

textbo

oksa

remainlyprod

uced

byprivatesector

publish

erssuchas

MacMillan

andHe

inem

ann.TheMinistry

ofEd

ucationandSportsno

rmallyprovides

alisto

fthe

recommen

dedtextbo

okstoeach

governmen

taide

dscho

ol.Schoo

lsarerequ

iredto

selectthetextbo

oksthe

ywou

ldne

edfrom

thelista

ndsubm

ittheirliststotheMinistry

ofEd

ucationand

Sports,w

hich

then

purchasesc

opiesa

ndsupp

liesthe

mfree

ofcharge

toallgovernm

enta

ided

scho

ols.Privatescho

olsp

urchasetheiro

wntextbo

oksfrom

book

stores.

Scho

olsa

ndteache

rsmaketheiro

wnscoringcrite

riaforclassroom

assessmen

tactivities,followingtheUNEB

exam

inationform

ats.Scho

olsa

ndteache

rscan

purchase

pastUNEB

exam

inationpape

rsfrom

UNEB

andbo

okstores

andusethem

forthe

irclassroo

massessmen

tactivities.Schoo

lsandteache

rsalso

collect

pastpape

rsfrom

thebe

stpe

rformingscho

olsa

ndusethem

forclassroom

assessmen

tactivities.

4.Th

eNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

P1to

P7ou

tline

whatstude

ntsa

tdifferen

tgrade

andagelevelsareexpe

cted

tolearninLanguage

andMathe

matics.Th

esyllabu

ses

also

outline

whatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

tolearnfora

llsubjectsinthecurriculum

.The

syllabu

seslist

aseto

fcom

petenciesthatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

toacqu

ireat

theen

dof

each

curricular

topic.Th

eNCD

Csyllabu

sesfor

OLeveloutlinewhat stude

ntsa

tdifferen

tgrade

andagelevelsareexpe

cted

tolearnin

English

andMathe

matics.Th

eyalso

outline

whatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

tolearnfora

llsubjectsinthecurriculum

.The

OLeveland

ALevelU

NEB

syllabu

ses

outline

whatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

tolearninLanguage

andMathe

matics.Th

eyalso

outline

whatstude

ntsa

reexpe

cted

tolearnfora

llsubjectsinthe

curriculum

.

5.System

levelm

echanism

sinclude

pre

andin

serviceteache

rtraining.Specifically,pre

serviceteache

rtrainingfora

llteache

rsinclud

esatopicon

the

developm

ento

fskills

andexpe

rtise

inclassroo

massessmen

t.Second

aryscho

olteache

rtraineesreceive

training

onclassroo

massessmen

tduringtheir

unde

rgradu

ateBa

chelor

ofEducationde

gree

program.Prim

aryscho

olteache

rtraineesreceive

training

onclassroo

massessmen

tduringtheirG

rade

3Ce

rtificate

programsa

tthe

Prim

aryTeache

r’sCo

lleges(PTCs).Prim

aryteache

rtraineese

nrolledforthe

Diplom

ainPrim

aryEducationalso

receivetraining

onclassroo

massessmen

t.

Theprovision

forinserviceteache

rtrainingismainlyavailableto

prim

aryscho

olteache

rsthroughtheCo

ntinuo

usProfessio

nalD

evelop

men

t(CP

D)program

and

theinitialteache

rorie

ntationprogram

cond

uctedby

thecoordinatin

gtutors.Coo

rdinatingtutorsareteache

rtrainersinteache

rtraining

collegesw

hohave

been

iden

tifiedby

theMinistry

ofEd

ucationandSportsto

offersup

portinim

plem

entatio

nof

thecurriculum

.Atthe

second

aryscho

ollevel,theprovision

forin

servicetraining

isavailableprim

arily

toMathe

maticsa

ndScienceteache

rsthroughtheSecond

aryScienceandMathe

maticsT

eachers(SESEMAT

)program

.The

purposeof

theprogram

isto

improvetheteaching

ability

ofScienceandMathe

maticsteachersa

tthe

second

arylevel,andtheoverallgoalistoim

provestud

ent

performance

inthosesubjects.

Additio

nally,allteache

rtrainingprogramsinclude

arequ

iredcourse

onclassroo

massessmen

t.Scho

olinspectio

nor

teache

rsup

ervisio

nalso

includ

esa

compo

nent

focusedon

classroo

massessmen

t.An

nualop

portun

ities

toparticipateinworksho

ps,con

ferences, and

item

developm

entfor,orscorin

gof

exam

sareavailableforsom

eteache

rsandUNEB

exam

iners.

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Inform

alor

adho

cinitiatives/activities

tobu

ildskillsa

ndexpe

rtise

inclassroo

massessmen

tare

also

madeavailableinthecoun

try,includ

ingrefreshe

rcou

rses,

conferen

cesa

ndworksho

psorganizedforp

racticingteache

rs.

6.Th

esupp

lyop

enen

dedform

atismorecommon

attheprim

aryscho

ollevel,whilethemultip

lechoice

form

atiscommon

atthesecond

aryscho

ollevel.Th

ere

isno

standard

system

levelcriterionthat

isprovided

toteache

rsto

beused

durin

gthegradingas

partof

classroo

massessmen

tactivities.Teachersc

onstruct

theiro

wnclassroo

massessmen

tsinahaph

azardfashion,with

questio

nsandessayprom

ptssim

ilartotheon

esthat

theirteachersu

sed.

Itisvery

common

forclassroom

assessmen

tactivities

tobe

mainlyabou

trecallinginform

ation.Itisalso

common

toob

serveerrorsinthescoringor

gradingof

stud

ents'w

ork,andgradeinfla

tion,andun

even

applicationof

standardsfor

gradingstud

ents'w

orkisaserio

usprob

lem.Itisc

ommon

forclassroom

assessmen

tto

bemainlyused

asan

administrativ

eor

controltoo

lrathe

rthanas

ape

dagogicalresou

rce.At

thesametim

e,classroo

massessmen

tistypicallyaligne

dwith

thepe

dagogicalorcurricular

fram

ework,parentsa

regene

rally

inform

edof

theirchild'sgrades,and

classroo

massessmen

tactivities

tend

toprovideuseful

feed

back

tostud

ents.

7.System

levelm

echanism

sare

inplaceto

mon

itorthe

quality

ofclassroo

massessmen

tactivities

andinclud

eclassroo

massessmen

tasa

requ

iredcompo

nent

ofateache

r’spe

rformance

evaluatio

nandscho

olinspectio

ns.The

rearealso

system

widereview

softhe

quality

ofed

ucation,which

includ

eafocuso

nclassroo

massessmen

t.Specifically,the

Directorateof

EducationStandardsh

astherespon

sibility

ofsettingstandards,assurin

gqu

ality

andevaluatin

gpe

rformance

ined

ucation.Ad

ditio

nally,the

reisan

externalmod

erationsystem

that

review

sthe

difficulty

ofclassroo

massessmen

tactivities

andthe

approp

riatene

ssof

scoringcrite

ria. Som

escho

olsh

aveinternalandexternalmod

erationsystem

scom

prise

dof

staffw

ithinandou

tsideof

thescho

ols.

8.Teache

rsarerequ

iredto

repo

rtclassroo

massessmen

tinformationto

thescho

ol,paren

ts,stude

nts,Scho

olManagem

entC

ommittees,andBo

ardof

Governors.Onrequ

est,scho

olssho

uldbe

ableto

repo

rton

individu

alstud

ent’s

performance

toofficialsfrom

theMinistry

ofEducationandCo

ordinatin

gCe

ntre

Tutors(CCT

s).

9.Th

erequ

ireduses

ofclassroo

massessmen

tactivities

toprom

oteandinform

stud

entlearninginclud

ediagno

singstud

ents’learningiss

ues,providingfeed

back

tostud

entson

theirlearning,inform

ingparentsa

bout

theirchild’slearning,grading

stud

entsforinternalclassroom

uses,providing

inpu

ttoan

external

exam

inationprogram,and

prom

otingstud

entsfrom

onegradeleveltothene

xt.

Althou

ghteache

rsinUgand

auseclassroo

massessmen

ttoinform

stud

ents’learning,inform

ingtheiro

wnteaching

isno

tamainreason

teache

rstypically

carry

outclassroom

assessmen

tactivities.

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UGANDA

Exam

inations

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SULTS

22

ENABLINGCONTEXT

Overallfram

eworkof

policies,lead

ership,organ

izatio

nalstructures,fiscaland

human

resourcesinwhich

assessmenta

ctivity

takesp

lace

inacoun

tryor

system

andtheextent

towhich

that

fram

eworkiscond

uciveto,orsup

portiveof,the

assessmenta

ctivity.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

1:Settingclearpolicies

Nostandardize

dexam

inationhastaken

place.

Thestandardize

dexam

inationhasbe

enop

eratingon

anirregular

basis.

Theexam

inationisastableprogram

that

hasb

eenop

eratingregularly

.1This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion

There

isno

policy

documen

tthat

authorize

sthe

exam

ination.

There

isan

inform

alor

draft

policy

documen

tthat

authorize

sthe

exam

ination.

Thereis

aform

alpo

licydo

cumen

tthat

authorize

sthe

exam

ination.

2This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisno

tavailableto

thepu

blic

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisavailableto

the

public.3

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

policy

documen

taddresses

some

keyaspe

ctso

fthe

exam

ination.

4Thepo

licydo

cumen

taddressesallkey

aspe

ctso

fthe

exam

ination.

ENABLINGCONTEXT

2:Havingstrong

leadership

Allstakeh

olde

rgrou

psstrongly

oppo

setheexam

inationor

areindiffe

rent

toit.

Most

stakeh

olde

rgrou

psop

pose

the

exam

ination.

Moststakeh

olde

rsgrou

pssupp

ortthe

exam

ination.

5All

stakeh

olde

rgrou

pssupp

ort

the

exam

ination.

Thereareno

attemptsto

improvethe

exam

inationby

stakeh

olde

rgroup

s.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

There

are

inde

pend

ent

attempts

toim

provetheexam

inationby

stakeh

olde

rgrou

ps.6

There

are

coordinated

attempts

toim

provetheexam

inationby

stakeh

olde

rgrou

ps.

Effortsto

improvetheexam

inationare

not

welcomed

bythe

leadership

incharge

oftheexam

ination

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Effortsto

improvetheexam

inationare

gene

rally

welcomed

bytheleadership

incharge

oftheexam

ination.

7

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

(CONTINUE

D)

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LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

3:Havingregularfunding

There

isno

fund

ing

allocated

forthe

exam

ination.

Thereis

irregular

fund

ingallocatedfor

theexam

ination.

Thereisregularfun

ding

allocatedforthe

exam

ination.

8This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ingcovers

somecore

exam

ination

activities:de

sign,

administratio

n,data

processin

gor

repo

rting.

Fund

ing

covers

allcore

exam

ination

activities:de

sign,

administratio

n,data

processin

gandrepo

rting.

9

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

does

notcoverresearch

and

developm

ent.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

covers

research

and

developm

ent.1

0

ENABLINGCONTEXT

4:Havingstrong

organizationalstructures

Theexam

inationofficedo

esno

texist

orisne

wlyestablish

ed.

The

exam

ination

office

isne

wly

establish

ed.

The

exam

ination

office

isa

stable

organizatio

n.11

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

exam

ination

office

isno

taccoun

table

toan

external

board

oragen

cy.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Theexam

inationofficeisaccoun

tableto

anexternalbo

ardor

agen

cy.12

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Exam

inationresults

areno

trecognize

dby

anycertificatio

nor

selectionsystem

.Exam

ination

results

are

recognize

dby

certificatio

nor

selectionsystem

inthe

coun

try.

Exam

ination

results

are

recognize

dby

onecertificatio

nor

selectionsystem

inanothe

rcou

ntry.

Exam

ination

results

are

recognize

dby

two

ormore

certificatio

nor

selection

system

inanothe

rcou

ntry.13

The

exam

ination

office

does

nothave

therequ

ired

facilitiesto

carryou

tthe

exam

ination.

Theexam

inationofficehassomeof

the

requ

ired

facilities

tocarry

out

the

exam

ination.

14

The

exam

ination

office

hasallof

the

requ

ired

facilities

tocarry

out

the

exam

ination.

Theexam

inationofficehasstateof

the

artfacilitie

stocarryou

tthe

exam

ination.

(CONTINUE

D)

* *

*

* *

*

*

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SULTS

24

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

5:Havingeffectivehuman

resources

There

isno

staff

tocarry

out

the

exam

ination.

Theexam

ination

officeis

inadeq

uately

staffed

toeffectively

carry

out

the

exam

ination,issue

sare

pervasive.

15

The

exam

ination

office

isadeq

uately

staffed

tocarry

outthe

exam

ination

effectively,with

minim

alissue

s.

The

exam

ination

office

isadeq

uately

staffed

tocarry

out

the

assessmen

teffectively,with

noissue

s.

Thecoun

trydo

esno

toffe

ropp

ortunitie

sthat

prep

are

for

work

onthe

exam

ination.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

coun

tryoffers

someop

portun

ities

that

prep

are

for

work

onthe

exam

ination.

16

The

coun

try

offers

awide

range

ofop

portun

ities

that

prep

areforworkon

theexam

ination.

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25

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT

Degree

towhich

theassessmentisc

oherentw

ithothercom

ponentso

fthe

educationsystem

.LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT1:

Aligning

exam

inationswith

learning

goalsand

opportunitiestolearn

Itis

notclearwhatthe

exam

ination

measures.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thereis

aclearun

derstand

ingof

what

theexam

inationmeasures.17

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

What

the

exam

ination

measures

isqu

estio

nedby

somestakeh

olde

rgroup

s.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Whatismeasuredby

theexam

inationis

largelyaccepted

bystakeh

olde

rgroup

s.18

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Materialtoprep

arefortheexam

ination

isminim

aland

itis

only

accessible

tovery

fewstud

ents.

Thereissomematerialtoprep

areforthe

exam

inationthat

isaccessible

tosome

stud

ents.

There

iscompreh

ensiv

ematerial

toprep

are

for

the

exam

ination

that

isaccessibleto

moststude

nts.19

There

iscompreh

ensiv

ematerial

toprep

are

for

the

exam

ination

that

isaccessibleto

allstude

nts.

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT2:

Providingteacherswith

opportunitiestolearnabouttheexam

ination

Thereareno

coursesor

worksho

pson

exam

inations

availableto

teache

rs.2

0There

are

noup

todate

courses

orworksho

pson

exam

inations

availableto

teache

rs.

Thereareup

todate

voluntarycourses

orworksho

pson

exam

inations

available

toteache

rs.

Thereareup

todate

compu

lsory

courses

orworksho

pson

exam

inations

for

teache

rs.

Teache

rsare

exclud

edfrom

all

exam

inationrelatedtasks.

Teache

rsare

involved

invery

few

exam

inationrelatedtasks.

Teache

rsare

involved

insome

exam

inationrelatedtasks.

Teache

rsare

involved

inmost

exam

inationrelatedtasks.

21

* * *

*

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ASSESSMENTQUALITY

Degree

towhich

theassessmentm

eetsqu

ality

stan

dards,isfair,

andisused

inan

effectiveway.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ASSESSMENTQUALITY1:

Ensuring

quality

There

isno

technicalrepo

rtor

othe

rdo

cumen

tatio

n.There

issome

documen

tatio

non

the

exam

ination,

butit

isno

tin

aform

alrepo

rtform

at.2

2

There

isa

compreh

ensiv

etechnical

repo

rtbu

twith

restrictedcirculation.

Thereis

acompreh

ensiv

e,high

quality

technicalrep

ortavailableto

thegene

ral

public.

There

are

nomechanism

sin

place

toen

sure

thequ

ality

oftheexam

ination.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Therearelim

itedsystem

aticmechanism

sin

place

toen

sure

the

quality

ofthe

exam

ination.

There

are

varie

dand

system

atic

mechanism

sin

place

toen

sure

the

quality

oftheexam

ination.

23

ASSESSMENTQUALITY2:

Ensuring

fairness

Inapprop

riate

behavior

surrou

ndingthe

exam

inationprocessish

igh.

24Inapprop

riate

behavior

surrou

ndingthe

exam

inationprocessism

oderate.

Inapprop

riate

behavior

surrou

ndingthe

exam

inationprocessislow

.Inapprop

riate

behavior

surrou

ndingthe

exam

inationprocessism

arginal.

Theexam

ination

results

lack

cred

ibility

fora

llstakeh

olde

rgroup

s.Theexam

inationresults

arecred

ible

for

somestakeh

olde

rgroup

s.Theexam

inationresults

arecred

ible

for

allstakeho

lder

grou

ps.2

5This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Themajority

ofthestud

ents

(over50%)

may

nottaketheexam

inationbe

causeof

language,gend

er,or

othe

req

uivalent

barriers.

Asig

nificant

prop

ortio

nof

stud

ents

(10%

50%)m

ayno

ttaketheexam

ination

becauseof

language,gend

er,or

othe

req

uivalent

barriers.

Asm

allp

ropo

rtionof

stud

ents(le

ssthan

10%)may

not

take

the

exam

ination

becauseof

language,gend

er,or

othe

req

uivalent

barriers.2

6

Allstud

ents

cantake

theexam

ination;

thereareno

language,gend

eror

othe

req

uivalent

barriers.

(CONTINUE

D)

*

*

*

* *

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27

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ASSESSMENTQUALITY3:

Usingexam

inationinform

ationinafairway

Exam

ination

results

are

notused

ina

prop

erway

byallstakeho

lder

grou

ps.

Exam

ination

results

are

used

bysome

stakeh

olde

rgroup

sinaprop

erway.2

7Exam

ination

results

are

used

bymost

stakeh

olde

rgroup

sinaprop

erway.

Exam

ination

results

are

used

byall

stakeh

olde

rgroup

sinaprop

erway.

Stud

entn

ames

andresults

arepu

blic.28

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Stud

ents’resultsareconfidentia

l.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

ASSESSMENTQUALITY4:

Ensuring

positiveconsequencesoftheexam

ination

Thereareno

optio

nsforstud

ents

who

dono

tperform

wello

ntheexam

ination,

orstud

ents

mustleave

the

education

system

.

There

are

very

limite

dop

tions

for

stud

entswho

dono

tperform

wellonthe

exam

ination.

Therearesomeop

tions

forstude

ntsw

hodo

notp

erform

wellontheexam

ination.

Thereisavarie

tyof

optio

nsforstud

ents

who

dono

tpe

rform

well

onthe

exam

ination.

29

There

are

nomechanism

sin

place

tomon

itor

the

conseq

uences

ofthe

exam

ination.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Therearesomemechanism

sin

placeto

mon

itor

the

conseq

uences

ofthe

exam

ination.

30

Thereisavarie

tyof

mechanism

sin

place

tomon

itor

the

conseq

uences

ofthe

exam

ination.

*

*

*

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SULTS

28

Exam

inations

1.Th

eUgand

aAd

vanced

Certificate

ofEducation(UAC

E)isan

exam

inationwhich

isadministered

tostud

entsafterthe

ycompletetw

oyearsof

uppe

rsecon

dary

scho

ol(grade

13).Th

emainpu

rposes

oftheexam

inationareforstud

entcertificatio

nforgradeor

scho

olcyclecompletion,

stud

entselectionto

universityor

othe

rhigher

educationinstitu

tion,

mon

itorin

gof

educationqu

ality

levels,

planning

educationpo

licyreform

s,andforscho

olor

educator

accoun

tability.

The

exam

inationwas

administered

forthe

firsttim

ein19

80.

2.Therearefour

documen

tswhich

containaspe

ctso

fthe

policyon

theUAC

Eexam

ination.

Theform

alpo

licydo

cumen

tsinclud

e:

a.TheUgand

aNationalExaminations

BoardAct,Ch

apter1

37Lawso

fUgand

a.b.

TheUNEB

Ugand

aAd

vanced

Certificate

ofEducationRe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

ses,which

arerevisedeveryfiveyears.Thecurren

tUAC

ERe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

sesa

reforthe

perio

d20

0920

13.

c.TheUNEB

Regulatio

nson

theCo

nducta

ndSupe

rvision

ofUCE

andUAC

EExam

ination,which

areauthorize

dby

UNEB

.The

curren

tregulations

arefor

theyear

2012

.

Thedraftp

olicydo

cumen

tinclude

s:

a.TheNationalC

urriculum

Developm

entCe

ntre

(NCD

C)draftALevelsyllabu

s,which

provides

thepo

licyon

theUAC

Eexam

ination.

Thisdraftisno

tavailableto

thepu

blic.

3.Allofthe

form

alpo

licydo

cumen

tsareavailableto

andeasilyaccessibleby

thepu

blic.

TheUgand

aNationalExaminations

BoardActcan

beaccessed

from

UNEB

.The

Actcan

also

bepu

rchasedfrom

bookstores.

Acopy

oftheUgand

aAd

vanced

Certificate

ofEd

ucationRe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

sesisdistrib

uted

free

ofcharge

toexam

inationcenters,which

regularly

enter

cand

idates

forUAC

E.Ad

ditio

nalc

opiescanbe

obtained

from

UNEB

.Scho

ols,

stud

ents,andthegene

ralp

ublic

canpu

rchase

copies

oftheregulatio

nsand

syllabu

sesfrom

UNEB

andbo

okstores

inthecoun

try.

Theexam

inationregulatio

nscanalso

beaccessed

from

theUgand

aNationalE

xaminations

web

siteat

http://w

ww.une

b.ac.ug.

Acopy

oftheUNEB

Regulatio

nson

theCo

nductandSupe

rvision

ofUCE

andUAC

EExam

inations

isdistrib

uted

free

ofcharge

toexam

inationcenters,which

regularly

entercandidatesfor

UAC

E.

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29

4.TheUgand

aNationalExaminations

Boardismandatedto

cond

uctsecon

dary

andothe

rexaminations

inUgand

a.Th

eUNEB

Acto

utlines

issue

sof

governance,

distrib

utionof

power,a

ndrespon

sibilitie

sam

ongkeyen

tities.Italso

states

fund

ingsources,as

wellasproced

ures

foraw

arding

certificatesandrespon

ding

tooffenses.

TheUgand

aAd

vanced

Certificate

ofEducationRe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

sesspecify

who

cansit

forthe

exam

ination,

theform

atof

theexam

inationqu

estio

ns,and

theexam

ination'salignm

entwith

curriculaandstandards.

Other

issue

saddressedin

theRe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

sesinclud

erequ

iremen

tsto

sitforthe

exam

ination,

awardrules,grading,

cond

ition

sfortheaw

ardof

certificates,center

ofexam

inations,e

xaminationfees,w

ithdraw

als,exam

inationtim

etables,

materialsto

beprovided

bycand

idates,notificatio

nof

results,disq

ualification,andremarking

ofscrip

ts.

TheUNEB

Regulatio

nson

theCo

nducta

ndSupe

rvision

ofUCE

andUAC

EExam

inations

addressissue

sof

securitybreaches,m

alpractices

andirregularities.Ita

lsoou

tline

stheproced

ures

forspecialn

eeds

anddisadvantagedstud

ents

andiden

tifiesrulesabou

tprep

aringtheexam

inationroom

sandhalls.Other

issue

saddressedinclud

ecategorie

sof

exam

inationsupe

rviso

rs,gen

eralrulesandregulatio

nson

thecond

ucta

ndsupe

rvision

oftheexam

inations,a

swellasgene

ral

arrangem

ents,such

asthecollectionof

exam

inationmaterials,

packagingof

exam

inationpape

rs,de

liveryof

questio

npape

rsto

storagestations,daily

distrib

utionof

questio

npape

rsto

centers,andcollectionof

exam

inations

scrip

tsfrom

storagestations.

5.Thereisstrong

supp

ortfor

theexam

inationprogram

from

policym

akers,teache

runion

s,ed

ucators,stud

ents,p

aren

ts,e

mployers,andun

iversities.Althou

ghthemed

iasupp

ortstheexam

inationprogram,the

yhave

pointedto

thene

edto

review

theexistingsystem

ofsettingandadministeringnatio

nalexaminations

toim

provethequ

ality

oflearning.N

ewspaper

articlereview

shavepo

intedto

thefactthat

UNEB

hasb

eenrecyclingexam

inationqu

estio

nsat

alllevelsite

xamines.

Thispracticehashadsomeim

plications,including

encouragingmanyscho

olsto

divertfrom

theteaching

syllabu

sthat

isintend

edto

prom

otelearning

inallits

threedo

mains,spe

cificallycognitive

(impartingknow

ledge),affe

ctive(positive

attitud

echange)a

ndpsycho

motor

(skills

developm

ent),toconcen

tratingon

the

questio

nandansw

erapproach

ofteaching

(which

orientsthelearne

rsto

reprod

ucein

anexam

thepo

ints

givendu

ringthelesson

with

little

room

for

reason

ing).

6.Attemptshave

been

madeby

themed

iato

acknow

ledgethene

edto

improvetheexam

inationprogram.T

hene

wly

appo

intedchairm

anof

theUgand

aNationalExaminations

Boardhasa

lsoexpressedintentions

toreview

theen

tireexam

inationsystem

.

7.Effortsto

improvetheexam

inationaregene

rally

welcomed

bytheleadership

incharge

oftheexam

ination.

TheUNEB

syllabu

sesandregulatio

nsarerevised

everyfiveyearsto

catertothechangesintheestablish

edcurriculum

.The

rulesandregulatio

nsarealso

revisedbasedon

emerging

need

sandrepo

rtsfrom

the

exam

inationexercise.

8.Thereisregularfun

ding

allocatedby

thegovernmen

tfor

theexam

ination,andfund

ingisalso

provided

bystud

entfees.

9.Fund

inghasbe

enallocatedforexam

inationde

signandadministratio

n,data

analysis,

andrepo

rting,

andthelong

ormed

ium

term

planning

ofprogram

mileston

es. W

hilefund

ingcoversstafftraining,thisfund

ingisno

tade

quate.

10.Fun

ding

also

coversresearch

andde

velopm

enta

ctivities.

UGA

NDA

SABE

RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

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30

11.T

heUgand

aNationalE

xaminations

Boardisasemiauton

omou

sbo

dy.Ithastheprim

aryrespon

sibility

forrunn

ingtheexam

ination.

Althou

ghtheUgand

aNationalExaminations

BoardActw

asform

allyen

actedin19

83,the

agen

cyhash

adprim

aryrespon

sibility

forrun

ning

theUAC

Eexam

inationsin

ce19

80.

12.The

Ugand

aNationalExaminations

Boardisaccoun

tableto

theMinistry

ofEducationan

dSports.

13.TheUAC

Eexam

inationresults

areofficially

recognize

dby

certificatio

nandselectionsystem

sin

Ugand

aas

wella

sby

morethan

onecertificatio

nand

selectionsystem

abroad.Som

ecoun

triesandun

iversities thata

dmitUgand

anstud

entshave

onlywrittento

UNEB

toverify,transla

te,and

clarify

theresults.For

exam

ple,

someun

iversitiesin

Canada

have

askedUNEB

tosend

them

acopy

ofthecourse

conten

t.Universities

inIndiahave

requ

estedUNEB

toconvertthe

grades

show

non

thecertificates(i.e.,A,

B,C,D,

E,andF)into

percen

tages.

14.T

heUNEB

headqu

arters

areho

used

inasecure

buildinglocatedin

Ntin

da,o

neof

thesubu

rbsof

Kampala.A

nother

buildingwhich

hassecure

storage

facilitiesislocatedin

Kyam

bogo,K

ampala.A

lthou

ghUNEB

hastheability

toback

updata

andhasadeq

uate

commun

icationtools,itdo

esno

thave

adeq

uate

accessto

compu

terservers,and

nota

lltechnicalstaffhasa

ccesstocompu

ters.

15.U

NEB

haspe

rmanen

t,fulltim

estaff,bu

titisn

otsufficien

ttomeetthe

demands

oftheexam

ination.

Somestaff,espe

ciallythetechnicalstaff,

isoverloaded

.Thisyear,a

totalo

f111

,581

cand

idates

wereexpe

cted

tosit

forthe

UAC

Eexam

ination,

inadditio

nto

the56

5,66

3cand

idates

who

satfor

thePLEexam

ination

andthe26

8,78

2stud

entswho

satfor

theUCE

exam

ination.ThePLEexam

inationandtheUCE

exam

inationarealso

overseen

byUNEB

.

Thereareap

proxim

ately23

0staff (technical,gene

ral,middlelevel,andtoplevelstaff)

working

with

UNEB

.How

ever,the

reisalim

itednu

mbe

roftechn

icalstaff.

Forexam

ple,

theSecond

aryScho

olDe

partmen

t,which

istasked

with

theUAC

Eexam

ination,

employs12

test

develope

rs,four

staffwho

aretasked

with

exam

inationmanagem

ent,andsevenstaffw

howorkintherecordssection.

Staffisoverloaded

,and

onestaffm

embe

risrequ

iredto

hand

lemanysubjecta

reas

(eventhou

ghthesesubjectswereno

thisor

herm

ajor

attheun

iversity).U

NEB

sometim

esrelieson

subjecte

xpertsfrom

NCD

C,un

iversities,as

wellasteache

rtraine

rsandsecond

aryscho

olteache

rs.

Issues

that

have

been

iden

tifiedwith

thepe

rformance

ofthehu

man

resourceswho

arerespon

sible

fortheexam

inationinclud

epo

ortraining

oftest

administrators

andinvigilators,a

swella

sweaknessesin

test

desig

n.Specifically,the

training

forinvigilators

isno

tadeq

uate.S

omeinvigilators

arepracticing

teache

rswho

areexpe

cted

tobe

familiar

with

administeringexam

inations

ingene

ral.Other

invigilators

areteache

rswho

have

previously

invigilatedUNEB

exam

inations.U

NEB

hasthereforeno

tinvestedsig

nificanttim

ein

retraining

teache

rsto

invigilate

theexam

inations.U

NEB

cond

ucts

a4weektraining

forthe

teache

rsinvolved

intest

item

developm

enta

ndmarking

oftheexam

inations.H

owever, the

teache

rsinvolved

insupe

rvising

andinvigilatin

gtheexam

inations

areon

lygivenaon

edaybriefin

gpriortothecommen

cemen

tofthe

exam

inations.Som

eteache

rsareno

tableto

attend

thebriefin

g.Re

cently,h

owever,U

NEB

hasclarified

thedu

tiesof

invigilators

intheirRe

gulatio

nson

theCo

nductandSupe

rvision

ofUCE

andUAC

EExam

inations

publication.

This

documen

tis

distrib

uted

totest

administrators,sup

ervisors

andinvigilators

attheon

edaybriefin

gandalso

atthecommen

cemen

tof

theexam

inations

forthoseteache

rswho

wereno

table

toattend

thebriefin

g.Re

gardingweaknessesin

test

desig

n,certainexam

inationqu

estio

nsareno

taskedin

aclearen

ough

way

forall

stud

entsto

unde

rstand

them

correctly

.

UGA

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31

16.Thereareun

iversitycourseson

educationalmeasuremen

tandevaluatio

nin

Ugand

a.Forinstance,MakerereUniversity

’sScho

olof

Educationoffers

unde

rgradu

ateandmaster’s

courseso

ned

ucationalm

easuremen

tand

evaluatio

n.

Fund

ingisalso

availablethroughtheUNEB

budget

fora

tten

ding

internationalp

rogram

s,courses,andworksho

pson

educationalm

easuremen

tand

evaluatio

n.Thefund

ingisavailableon

anannu

albasis

toUNEB

staff.Fore

xample,

UNEB

isamem

bero

fthe

AssociationforE

ducatio

nalA

ssessm

entinAfrica(AEA

A).T

his

associationorganizesc

onferences

invario

uscoun

triesinAfricato

which

UNEB

usually

send

seightto10

peop

le,suchas

testde

velope

rsandresearch

officers,to

attend

.UNEB

isalso

amem

berof

theInternationalA

ssociatio

nforEducationalA

ssessm

ent(IAEA

).Th

isassociationalso

organizesconferen

ceseveryyear,b

utbe

causeof

thecostsinvolved,UNEB

ison

lyableto

send

approxim

atelytw

ope

opleto

theconferen

ceeveryyear.

17.The

UAC

Eexam

inationmeasuresthe

natio

nalschoo

lcurriculum

guidelines

andstandards.

18.W

hatismeasuredby

theexam

inationislargelyaccepted

byvario

usstakeh

olde

rssuch

aspo

licym

akers,teache

rs,edu

cators,stude

nts,parents,med

ia,think

tanks,un

iversities,andem

ployers.

19.T

hepu

blicallyavailablematerialsne

eded

toprep

arefortheexam

inationinclud

eexam

ples

ofthetype

sof

questio

nscontaine

don

theUAC

Eexam

ination,

which

arepu

blish

edinUNEB

pastpape

rpub

lications

fora

llsubjects.The

sepu

blications

canbe

purchasedfrom

UNEB

andfrom

bookstores.

TheUAC

ERe

gulatio

nsandSyllabu

sesdo

cumen

texplainswhatismeasuredon

theexam

ination.

Each

exam

inationcenter,w

hich

regularly

enterscand

idates

for

UAC

E,receives

afree

copy

oftheRe

gulatio

nsdirectlyfrom

UNEB

.Add

ition

alcopies

canbe

purchasedfrom

UNEB

andinbo

okstores.

Additio

nally,U

NEB

releases

anannu

alrepo

rton

thestrengthsandweaknessesin

stud

entp

erform

ance

ontheUAC

E,which

ismadeavailableto

theMinistry

ofEducationan

dSports.The

Minister

ofEducationthen

officially

releases

theUAC

Eresults

tothepu

blic.

Thematerialsne

eded

toprep

areforthe

exam

inationareaccessibleby

moststude

nts.Scho

ols,stud

ents,and

thegene

ralp

ublic

canpu

rchase

UNEB

syllabu

ses,

regulatio

ns,andpast

pape

rsfrom

UNEB

andfrom

theleadingbo

okstores

inthecoun

try.

Scho

olscanalso

hold

copies

intheirlibrarie

s.Ho

wever,certain

subgroup

s,espe

ciallycand

idates

inurbanscho

ols,have

greatera

ccesstothematerialsthan

theirruralcoun

terparts.

20.T

here

areno

coursesor

worksho

pson

theexam

inationavailableto

teache

rs.T

heon

lyworksho

psavailableareforteache

rswho

areinvolved

intest

item

developm

enta

ndmarking

oftheexam

ination.

21.Every

year,U

NEB

selectsteacherstoparticipateincreatin

gexam

inationqu

estio

ns,creatingmarking

guides,adm

inisteringtheexam

ination,

actin

gas

ajudge

inorals,andsupe

rvising

exam

inationproced

ures.

22.T

here

issomedo

cumen

tatio

nabou

tthe

technicalaspectsof

theexam

ination,

butit isno

tinaform

alrepo

rtform

at.T

hisdo

cumen

tatio

nisinclud

edin

the

2012

UNEB

Regulatio

nson

theCo

nductandSupe

rvision

ofUCE

andUAC

EExam

inations

documen

t.Th

ebroadareascoveredby

thedo

cumen

tinclud

e:

UGA

NDA

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RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

TSA

BERCO

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YRE

PORT

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SAP

PROAC

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TTER

EDUCA

TIONRE

SULTS

32

categorie

sof

exam

inationsupe

rviso

rs,gen

eralrulesandregulatio

nson

thecond

ucta

ndsupe

rvision

ofexam

inations,and

gene

ralarrangemen

tsandmeasures

againstm

alpractice.

23.T

oen

sure

thequ

ality

oftheexam

ination,

UNEB

cond

ucts

apilotor

filed

testing(w

here

sampleexam

inationqu

estio

nsaretested

inasampleof

UAC

Escho

ols),andanalyzes

theresults.Th

esampleinclud

escand

idates

inthetop,

middle,

andlow

achievem

entsubgroup

s.UNEB

also

cond

ucts

transla

tion

verificationbe

fore

thefin

alexam

inationisset.Du

ringtheadministratio

nof

theexam

ination,

UNEB

send

sscou

tsto

UAC

Eexam

inationcenterswho

mon

itorthe

runn

ingof

theexam

inations.Externalreviewsor

observerscomefrom

sisterinstitutions

such

astheNationalC

urriculum

Developm

entC

entre,Teache

rTraining

Institu

tions,and

theDirectorateof

EducationStandards.

24.The

rearevario

usinapprop

riate

behaviorssurrou

ndingtheexam

ination.

However,certainmechanism

shave

been

putin

placeto

addresseach

type

ofinapprop

riate

behavior:

a.Leakageof

theconten

tofa

nexam

inationpape

rorp

arto

fapape

rprio

rtotheexam

ination.

Toaddressthisissue

,UNEB

hasincreasedexam

inations

scou

ts.Intheeven

tofe

vide

nceof

cheatin

g,UNEB

cancelstheresults

ofthecheatin

gstud

ents

andscho

ols.Thepo

licealso

arreststud

ents

involved

incheatin

g.

b.Im

person

ation(w

henan

individu

alothe

rthantheregistered

cand

idatetakestheexam

ination).T

oaddressthisissue

,UNEB

hasinstitu

tedtheuseof

photoalbu

ms.

c.Co

pyingfrom

othe

rcand

idates.T

oaddressthisissue

,UNEB

hasspecified

aminim

umdistance

that

shou

ldbe

perm

itted

betw

eencand

idates

durin

gtheexam

ination.

d.Usin

gun

authorize

dmaterialssuch

asprep

ared

answ

ersandno

tes.To

addressthisissue

,candidatesarecheckedthorou

ghly

before

enterin

gthe

exam

inationroom

/hall.

e.Co

llusio

nam

ongcand

idates

viamob

ileph

ones,p

assin

gof

pape

r,or

equivalent.Toaddressthisissue

,mob

ileph

ones

arestrictly

proh

ibite

dfrom

the

exam

inationroom

. UNEB

also

deployse

xternalsup

ervisorsto

checkon

stud

entcon

ductdu

ringtheexam

ination.

f.Issuingforged

certificatesor

alterin

gresults.Toaddressthisissue

,the

results

certificateshave

adde

dsecurityfeatures,suchas

stud

entp

hotographs.

Certificatesalso

have

aho

logram

with

theUNEB

Courto

fArm

sem

bedd

edinsid

e.Thereisan

embe

dded

thread

that

isno

tvisibleto

thenakedeye(an

ultraviolet

feature)

andun

ique

lines

onthecertificate.

g.Provision

ofexternalassistanceviathesupe

rviso

r,mob

ileph

one,etc.To

addressthisissue

,UNEB

send

sout

scou

tsto

exam

inationcentersto

mon

itor

thecond

uctdu

ringtheexam

ination.

Supe

rviso

rsandinvigilators

comefrom

outsidethecenter.Mob

ileph

ones

arealso

notallowed

into

the

exam

inationroom

.

UGA

NDA

SABE

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NTAS

SESSMEN

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33

h.Thereisalso

anoccasio

nalsub

stitu

tionof

stud

ent’s

scrip

tswith

othe

rsdo

neou

tsidetheexam

inationroom

bysomeo

neelse.Tam

pere

vide

ntplastic

scrip

tenvelop

esareused

toaddressthisissue

.

25.A

llstakeh

olde

rgroup

saccep

tthe

exam

inationresults

and,as

approp

riate,use

them

forselectio

n,placem

ent,andem

ploymen

tpurpo

ses.

26.Som

estud

ents

who

attend

privatescho

olsbu

tare

unable

topaytheexam

inationfees

cann

ottake

theexam

ination.

Somestud

ents

inprivatescho

olspay

theexam

inationregistratio

nfees

totheirschoo

ls,yetthe

scho

olauthorities

take

themon

eyandstud

entscann

otsit

theexam

ination.

UNEB

norm

allyappe

alsto

scho

olstoletstude

ntssitforthe

exam

inationandpaylater.

27.Som

eDistrictE

ducatio

nOfficers(policym

akers)threaten

tofirehe

adteache

rswho

sescho

olsd

ono

tachieve

acertainpass

levelontheexam

ination.

Thishas

encouraged

cheatin

gand

malpractice.

Themed

iahascarriedou

ttherankingof

cand

idates

andscho

olsinapprop

riately,which

hasen

couraged

unfair

compe

titionandmalpractice.

28.From

UNEB

’ssid

e,on

lythestud

enta

ndpe

rson

swith

alegitim

ate,professio

nalinterestinthetest

takerc

anknow

theresults.Thu

s,UNEB

hasinstitu

tedan

SMSservicewhe

restud

ents

canreceivetheirresults

immed

iatelyafterthey

arereleased

.How

ever,schoo

lsmaketheresults

publicby

releasingthem

tothe

med

iawhich

publish

stud

ents’n

ames

andexam

inationresults.T

hispracticeisno

tin

linewith

theguidelines

ofcommun

icatingexam

inations

results

andis

something

that

thescho

olsandthemed

iado

with

outformalauthority

. Som

eof

theresults

that

have

been

publish

edin

thepressareno

tauthe

ntic.The

med

iaalso

makes

unfairrankings

basedon

theexam

inationresults.

29.Stud

ents

who

dono

tpe

rform

wellon

theexam

inationhave

theop

tionof

retaking

theexam

ination,

attend

ingremed

ialcoursesto

prep

areforthe

exam

inationand/or

repe

atingthegrade.

Stud

ents

canalso

optforless

selectivescho

olssuch

astechnical,vocatio

naltraininginstitu

tions,farm

scho

olsand

nursingscho

ols.

30.T

hemechanism

sin

placeto

mon

itortheconseq

uences

oftheexam

inationaremainlyape

rmanen

toversig

htcommittee

andstud

iesthat

areregularly

updated.

UGA

NDA

SABE

RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

TSA

BERCO

UNTR

YRE

PORT

|201

2

SYSTEM

SAP

PROAC

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TTER

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TIONRE

SULTS

34

.

UGANDA

National(orSystem

Level)LargeScaleAssessment(NLSA)

UGA

NDA

SABE

RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

TSA

BERCO

UNTR

YRE

PORT

|201

2

SYSTEM

SAP

PROAC

HFO

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TTER

EDUCA

TIONRE

SULTS

35

ENABLINGCONTEXT

Overallfram

eworkof

policies,lead

ership,organ

izatio

nalstructures,fiscaland

human

resourcesinwhich

NLSAactivity

takesp

lace

inacoun

tryor

system

andthe

extent

towhich

that

fram

eworkiscond

uciveto,orsup

portiveof,the

NLSAactiv

ity.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

1:SettingclearpoliciesforNLSA

NoNLSAexercise

hastaken

place.

The

NLSA

has

been

operating

onan

irregular

basis.

TheNLSA

isastable

program

that

has

been

operatingregularly

.1This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thereis

nopo

licydo

cumentpe

rtaining

toNLSA.

There

isan

inform

alor

draft

policy

documen

tthata

utho

rizes

theNLSA.

Thereis

aform

alpo

licydo

cumen

tthat

authorize

sthe

NLSA.

2This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisno

tavailableto

thepu

blic.

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisavailableto

the

public.3

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thereisno

plan

forN

LSAactivity

.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thereisagene

ralund

erstanding

that

the

NLSAwilltake

place.

4There

isa

written

NLSA

plan

forthe

comingyears.

ENABLINGCONTEXT

2:Havingstrong

publicengagementforNLSA

Allstakeh

olde

rgrou

psstrongly

oppo

setheNLSAor

areindiffe

rent

toit.

Some

stakeholde

rgrou

psop

pose

the

NLSA.

Moststakeh

olde

rsgrou

pssupp

ortthe

NLSA.

Allstakeho

lder

grou

pssupp

ortthe

NLSA.

5

(CONTINUE

D)

* * * *

*

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36

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

3:HavingregularfundingforNLSA

There

isno

fund

ing

allocated

tothe

NLSA.

There

isirregular

fund

ingallocated

totheNLSA.

Thereisregularfund

ingallocatedto

the

NLSA.

6This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

covers

some

core

NLSA

activities:d

esign,administratio

n,analysis

andrepo

rting.

Fund

ingcovers

allcore

NLSA

activities:

desig

n,administratio

n,analysis

and

repo

rting.

7

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

does

notcoverresearch

and

developm

enta

ctivities.8

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

covers

research

and

developm

enta

ctivities.

ENABLINGCONTEXT

4:Havingstrong

organizationalstructuresforNLSA

Thereis

noNLSAoffice,

adho

cun

itor

team

.TheNLSAofficeisatempo

rary

agen

cyor

grou

pof

peop

le.

TheNLSAofficeisape

rmanen

tagen

cy,

institu

tionor

unit.

9This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Political

considerations

regularly

hampe

rtechnicalcon

siderations.

Political

considerations

sometim

eshampe

rtechn

icalconsiderations.1

0Po

litical

considerations

never

hampe

rtechnicalcon

siderations.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

TheNLSAofficeisno

taccoun

tableto

aclearly

recognize

dbo

dy.

The

NLSA

office

isaccoun

table

toa

clearly

recognize

dbo

dy.1

1This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

(CONTINUE

D)

* *

*

* * *

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LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

5:Havingeffectivehuman

resourcesforNLSA

Thereisno

staffa

llocatedforrun

ning

anNLSA.

TheNLSAofficeis

inadeq

uately

staffed

toeffectivelycarryou

tthe

assessmen

t.12

TheNLSAofficeisadeq

uately

staffedto

carry

out

the

NLSA

effectively,

with

minim

alissue

s.

TheNLSAofficeisadeq

uately

staffedto

carryou

ttheNLSA

effectively,

with

noissue

s.

Thecoun

trydo

esno

toffe

ropp

ortunitie

sthat

prep

are

individu

als

forwork

onNLSA.

13

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thecoun

tryofferssomeop

portun

ities

toprep

are

individu

als

for

work

onthe

NLSA.

The

coun

try

offers

awide

range

ofop

portun

ities

toprep

areindividu

alsfor

workon

theNLSA.

*

*

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NDA

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SESSMEN

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PORT

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TIONRE

SULTS

38

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT

Degree

towhich

theNLSAiscoherent

with

othercom

ponentso

fthe

educationsystem

.LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT1:

Aligning

theNLSA

with

learning

goals

Itis

notcleariftheNLSA

isbasedon

curriculum

orlearning

standards.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

TheNLSAmeasurespe

rformance

against

curriculum

orlearning

standards.

14This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Whatthe

NLSA

measuresis

gene

rally

questio

nedby

stakeh

olde

rgroup

s.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

WhattheNLSAmeasuresis

questio

ned

bysomestakeh

olde

rgroup

s.What

the

NLSA

measures

islargely

accepted

bystakeh

olde

rgroup

s.15

There

are

nomechanism

sin

place

toen

sure

that

the

NLSA

accurately

measures

what

itis

supp

osed

tomeasure.

Therearead

hocreview

sof

theNLSAto

ensure

that

itmeasures

what

itis

intend

edto

measure.

Thereareregularinternalreview

sof

the

NLSAto

ensure

that

itmeasureswhatit

isintend

edto

measure.1

6

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT2:

Providingteacherswith

opportunitiestolearnabouttheNLSA

Thereareno

coursesor

worksho

pson

theNLSA.

There

are

occasio

nal

courses

orworksho

pson

theNLSA.

17Therearesomecoursesor

worksho

pson

theNLSAofferedon

aregularb

asis.

Therearewidelyavailablehigh

quality

courses

orworksho

pson

the

NLSA

offeredon

aregularb

asis.

*

*

*

*

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NDA

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PORT

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SULTS

39

ASSESSMENTQUALITY

Degree

towhich

theNLSAmeetstechnicalstand

ards,isfair,an

disused

inan

effectiveway.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ASSESSMENTQUALITY1:

Ensuring

thequality

oftheNLSA

No

optio

nsare

offered

toinclud

eall

grou

psof

stud

entsintheNLSA.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Atleaston

eop

tionisofferedto

includ

eallgroup

sofstude

ntsintheNLSA.

Diffe

rent

optio

nsareofferedto

includ

eallgroup

sofstude

ntsintheNLSA.

18

There

are

nomechanism

sin

place

toen

sure

thequ

ality

oftheNLSA.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Therearesomemechanism

sin

placeto

ensure

thequ

ality

oftheNLSA.

There

are

avarie

tyof

mechanism

sin

placeto

ensure

thequ

ality

oftheNLSA.

19

There

isno

technicalrepo

rtor

othe

rdo

cumen

tatio

nabou

tthe

NLSA.

Thereissomedo

cumen

tatio

nabou

tthe

technicalaspe

ctsof

theNLSA,

butitis

notinaform

alrepo

rtform

at.

There

isa

compreh

ensiv

etechnical

repo

rtbu

twith

restrictedcirculation.

Thereis

acompreh

ensiv

e,high

quality

technicalrep

ortavailableto

thegene

ral

public.20

ASSESSMENTQUALITY2:

Ensuring

effectiveusesoftheNLSA

NLSAresults

areno

tdissem

inated

.NLSAresults

arepo

orlydissem

inated

.NLSA

results

are

dissem

inated

inan

effectiveway.21

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

NLSAinform

ationisno

tused

orisused

inwaysinconsisten

twith

thepu

rposes

orthe

technicalcharacteristicsof

the

assessmen

t.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

NLSA

results

are

used

bysome

stakeh

olde

rgrou

psin

away

that

isconsisten

twith

the

purposes

and

technical

characteristics

ofthe

assessmen

t.

NLSA

inform

ation

isused

byall

stakeh

olde

rgrou

psin

away

that

isconsisten

twith

the

purposes

and

technical

characteristics

ofthe

assessmen

t.22

There

are

nomechanism

sin

place

tomon

itorthe

conseq

uences

oftheNLSA.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Therearesomemechanism

sin

placeto

mon

itorthe

conseq

uences

oftheNLSA.

23There

are

avarie

tyof

mechanism

sin

place

tomon

itorthe

conseq

uences

oftheNLSA.

** *

*

*

*

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40

National(orSystem

Level)LargeScaleAssessment(NLSA)

1.To

mon

itortheeffectiven

essof

theteaching

learning

process,

theGo

vernmen

tof

Ugand

a,throughtheUgand

aNationalExam

inations

Board(UNEB

),em

barked

oncarrying

outthe

NationalA

ssessm

ento

fProgressin

Education(NAP

E)at

theprim

arylevelsince

1996

andat

thesecond

arylevelsince

2008

.The

mainob

jectives

ofNAP

Eareto:

•De

term

ineandmon

itorthe

levelofa

chievemen

tofp

upils

over

time.

•Ge

nerate

inform

ationon

whatp

upils

know

andcando

indiffe

rent

areaso

fthe

curriculum

.•Evaluate

theeffectiven

esso

freformsintheed

ucationsystem

.•Provideinform

ationon

varia

bles

that

affectlearning

achievem

ent.

•Suggestm

easuresfor

theim

provem

ento

fteachingandlearning

inscho

ols.

Theassessmen

tisdo

neannu

ally

ingrades

3and6in

thesubjectareasof

Literacy

andNum

eracy.

OralS

kills

inEn

glish

areassessed

everythreeyears.Th

eSenior

grade2assessmen

tfocuses

onEnglish

,Mathe

matics,andBiology.Asampleof

teache

rsisalso

assessed

.

2.TheGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ronEd

ucation(M

inistry

ofEducationandSports,1

992)

istheform

alpo

licydo

cumen

tthata

utho

rizes

NAP

E.Th

eGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ronEducationrecommen

dedthereview

anddiversificatio

nof

theassessmen

tsused

bytheUgand

aNationalExaminations

Board,

which

ledto

the

form

ationof

NationalA

ssessm

ento

fProgressinEd

ucation.

3.TheGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ron

theEducationPo

licyRe

view

CommissionRe

portisavailablein

theMinistry

ofEducationRe

source

Centre

andun

iversity

librarie

s,andcopies

canbe

purchasedfrom

thegovernmen

tboo

ksho

pandothe

rboo

kstores.

4.Thenatio

nallarge

scaleassessmen

tplan

forthecomingyearsexistsin

officialcom

mun

ications

andminutes

ofmeetin

gs.T

hus,while

thereisacommon

unde

rstand

ingthat

NAP

Ewilltake

place,thereisno

form

allywrittenplan.

5.Thereisstrong

supp

ortfortheNAP

Elargescaleassessmen

tprogram

from

allstakeho

lder

grou

ps.M

anystakeh

olde

rsareno

wconsciou

sof

thene

edto

obtaininform

ationon

whatchildrenactuallylearninscho

ol.The

useof

natio

nalassessm

entresultshasrangedfrom

reform

ingthecurriculum

toim

provingand

reallocatin

gresources.

6.Thereisregular(continuo

usandpred

ictable)

fund

ingallocatedby

thegovernmen

tand

byno

ngovernmen

tsou

rces,suchas

theWorld

Bank.H

owever,the

fund

ingisno

tsufficient

toen

ablealarger

samplesiz

eto

beused

toredu

cesamplingerrors.

7.Theactiv

ities

coveredby

thefund

ingallocatedforNAP

Eareassessmen

tde

signandadministratio

n,anddata

analysisandrepo

rting.

Dueto

thesm

all

resource

envelope

allocatedforthe

assessmen

tprogram

from

both

governmen

tand

nongovernmen

tsou

rces,som

eactiv

ities

aresupp

ressed

andothe

rsare

sque

ezed

.The

activ

ities

that

aresupp

ressed

andsque

ezed

aremainlyat

thelevelo

f dissem

inationof

theNAP

Efin

dings.Fore

xample,

dueto

limite

dfund

ing,

onlytheHe

adTeache

rsof

thesampled

scho

olsineach

districtw

ereinvitedto

thedissem

inationworksho

psof

thelatestNAP

Efin

dingsforp

rimaryscho

ol.The

UGA

NDA

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SESSMEN

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SULTS

41

Head

Teache

rsweregivencopies

oftheNAP

Eassessmen

trep

orta

tthe

endof

theworksho

p.Allschoo

ls,includ

ingthosethat

didno

tparticipatein

theNAP

Eassessmen

treceivedcopies

oftheassessmen

trep

orts.

8.Fund

ingdo

esno

tcover

research

andde

velopm

ent a

ctivities.

9.Thegrou

pin

charge

ofNAP

Eisape

rmanen

tunitwith

intheUgand

aNationalExaminations

Board.

Thereare11

fulltim

estaffm

embe

rsworking

onNAP

E.Five

ofthesearesenior

staff,andsix

arejunior

staffa

ndclerical

officers.Ho

wever,w

henthene

edarise

s,staffm

embe

rsarecalledup

onto

workon

othe

rassessmen

tactivities

aswell.

10.Som

estakeh

olde

rssometim

esho

ldreservations

regardingNAP

Efin

dingsdu

eto

politicalconsiderations.H

owever,the

sereservations

have

nevera

ffected

thequ

ality

oftheNAP

Eassessmen

t,andtheNAP

Eassessmen

tresultshave

neverb

eenwith

heldfrom

publicationbe

causeof

politicalreason

s.

11.T

hegrou

prespon

sible

forcarrying

outtheNAP

Eassessmen

tisaccoun

tableto

theExecutiveSecretary,

Ugand

aNationalE

xaminations

Board.

UNEB

isa

semia

uton

omou

sbod

yun

derthe

Ministry

ofEducationandSports.

12.The

reispe

rmanen

tfulltim

estaffrespo

nsibleforN

APE.Ho

wever,the

reisno

teno

ughstafftomeet the

need

sof

theassessmen

t.Thereareon

ly11

NAP

Estaffm

embe

rsto

runassessmen

tsforP

rimary3and6inNum

eracy,Literacy

andOralSkills

inEnglish

.The

samestaffrun

stheassessmen

tsinthesubjecta

reas

ofEnglish

,Mathe

maticsa

ndBiologyforS

enior2

.

13.T

here

areun

iversitycourses(gradu

ateandun

dergradu

ate)

oned

ucationalm

easuremen

tandevaluatio

nthat

areavailablein

thecoun

tryon

anannu

albasis

.Forinstance,MakerereUniversity

’sScho

olof

Educationoffers

unde

rgradu

ateandmaster’s

courseson

educationalmeasuremen

tandevaluatio

n.Ho

wever,the

reareno

oppo

rtun

ities

inthecoun

tryto

prep

areindividu

alsforworkon

NAP

E.Therearealso

noop

portun

ities

offeredin

thesystem

forNAP

Estaffp

erse.A

llfiveNAP

Esenior

staffh

avepo

stgraduate

degrees.Ofthe

se,o

nestaffm

embe

rhas

recentlyacqu

iredado

ctorate(PhD

)degreeinstatistics,three

staffm

embe

rshave

master’s

degreesin

statisticsandon

estaffm

embe

rhas

amaster’s

degree

inlanguage

education.

Ofthe

sixNAP

Ejunior

andclericalstaff

mem

bers,o

nehasa

master’s

degree

ined

ucation,

twostaffm

embe

rshave

bachelor’sde

greesined

ucation,

onestaffm

embe

rcom

pleted

ALevel,andthetw

osecretariesh

avequ

alificatio

nsinsecretarialstudies.

14.NAP

Emeasurespe

rformance

againstnatio

nalcurriculum

guidelines

andlearning

standards.

Attheprim

arylevel,theassessmen

tmeasurespu

pils’

achievem

entin

Num

eracy,

Literacy,and,

morerecently,in

OralSkillsin

English

.At

thesecond

arylevel,pu

pils’

achievem

entis

measured

inEn

glish

,Mathe

matics,andBiology.

15.W

hatismeasuredby

NAP

Eislargelyaccepted

byvario

usstakeh

olde

rgrou

ps. T

hese

includ

e,am

ongothe

rs,p

olicym

akers,ed

ucators,teache

rs,d

istrict

educationofficials,

inspectors,teacher

educators,curriculum

develope

rs,stude

nts,parents,andem

ployers.

16.N

APEisbasedon

thenatio

nalcurriculum

which

outline

sthecompe

tenciesthat

learne

rsareexpe

cted

toacqu

ireat

each

gradelevel.Qualityassurance

measuresareappliedat

everystageof

theassessmen

texercise

toen

sure

validity

andreliability.

Forexam

ple,

thereareregularinde

pend

entandinternal

UGA

NDA

SABE

RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

TSA

BERCO

UNTR

YRE

PORT

|201

2

SYSTEM

SAP

PROAC

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TTER

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TIONRE

SULTS

42

review

sby

qualified

expe

rtsof

thealignm

entb

etweentheassessmen

tinstrum

enta

ndwhatthe

assessmen

tissupp

osed

tomeasure.T

hese

expe

rtsarefrom

with

inandou

tsideof

UNEB

.The

yusually

includ

eofficialsfrom

NAP

E,NCD

C,teache

rs,and

teache

rtrainers.

17.T

here

areteache

rtraining

courses,worksho

ps,and

presen

tatio

nson

NAP

E,which

areofferedprim

arily

toteache

rs,H

eadTeache

rsandDistrictE

ducatio

nOfficers.A

llDistrictE

ducatio

nOfficersattend

theNAP

Edissem

inationworksho

psas

they

arerespon

siblefora

llmattersconcerning

educationinthedistrict.For

theprim

aryscho

ols,theparticipantsaretheteache

rsof

Num

eracyandLiteracy

andallH

eadTeache

rsfrom

thesampled

scho

olsw

hich

participated

intheNAP

Eassessmen

t.Forthe

second

aryscho

ols,theparticipantsareteache

rsof

English

,Mathe

matics,andBiologyandallH

eadTeache

rsfrom

thesampled

scho

olsthat

participated

inthesurvey.W

hileNAP

Eiscond

uctedinalldistrictsinUgand

a,on

lyasampleisselected

from

each

district.NAP

Estaffh

asno

tbeenableto

train

alargenu

mbe

rof

teache

rsdu

eto

limite

dfund

ing.

However,som

escho

olsandteache

rshave

organizedtheirow

nworksho

psandhave

invitedNAP

Estaffto

dissem

inateNAP

Efin

dingsto

improveteaching

andlearning.W

hileNAP

Eiden

tifiedthelack

ofteache

rtraininginbasic

assessmen

ttechn

ique

sas

amajor

block

toeffectiveteaching,attem

ptstohe

lptheteache

rsinthisarea

have

nottaken

placedu

eto

financialconstraints.Althou

ghUNEB

andNAP

Ehave

recognize

dthe

need

totrainteache

rsin

assessmen

ttechniqu

es,the

yareno

tmandatedto

give

thistraining,a

ndUNEB

andNAP

Edo

nothave

abu

dget

toofferteache

rstraining

inassessmen

ttechniqu

es.T

hegovernmen

tof

Ugand

a,throughtheMinistry

ofEducationandSports,h

asthemandate

totrainteache

rsforbo

thprim

aryandsecond

aryscho

ols.Thistraining

isofferedinPrim

aryTeache

r’sCo

lleges(PTCs)a

ndun

iversities.Althou

ghthePTCs

andun

iversitiesofferc

ourses

inassessmen

tand

evaluatio

n,UNEB

andNAP

Eareof

theview

that

thistraining

need

stobe

furthe

rstren

gthe

ned.

18.A

twostagestratifiedsamplingde

signisused

.The

firststageinvolves

selectingarand

omsampleof

scho

ols,stratifiedby

district.Scho

olsin

thedistrictsof

Ugand

aareinclud

edinthesamplingfram

e.In

thesecond

stage,arand

omsampleof

pupilspresen

tinthescho

olon

thedayof

thesurvey

isselected

from

each

ofthePrim

ary3,

Prim

ary6,

andSenior

2classes.Ra

ndom

selectionof

scho

ols,andpu

pilswith

inascho

ol,isdo

neto

minim

izeselectionbias.A

ccom

mod

ations

areprovided

forstud

ents

with

disabilities,

specialplansaremadeto

ensure

that

theNAP

Eis

administered

tostud

ents

inhard

toreachareas,

andthe

assessmen

tiso

fferedinEn

glish

,which

isthelanguage

ofinstructioninUgand

a.

19.A

numbe

rofm

easuresaretakento

ensure

thequ

ality

oftheNAP

Eassessmen

tinstrum

ent.Alladm

inistratorsaretraine

daccordingto

aprotocol,the

reisa

standardize

dmanualfor

administrators,and

apilotisc

ondu

cted

before

themaindata

collectiontakesp

lace.Inadditio

n,all boo

kletsa

renu

mbe

red,scorersa

retraine

dto

ensure

high

interraterreliability,andthereareinternalandexternalob

serversd

uringtheassessmen

texercise

.

20.The

reisacompreh

ensiv

e,high

quality

technicalrep

orta

vailableto

thegene

ralpub

lic.The

repo

rtbroadlycoversan

introd

uctio

nto

theassessmen

t,survey

proced

ures,the

achievem

entof

pupilsin

numeracyandliteracyat

diffe

rent

gradelevels,

andthechallenges

facedby

thescho

ols.Th

erepo

rten

dswith

aconclusio

n,discussio

n,andrecommen

datio

ns.

21.N

APEresults

aredissem

inated

with

in12

mon

thsafterthe

assessmen

tisadministered

.The

mainrepo

rtson

theresults

containinform

ationon

theoverall

achievem

entlevelsandby

subgroup

s,as

wellastren

dsover

timeandforsubgroup

s.Th

emainrepo

rtson

theresults

also

containstandard

errors.T

here

are

worksho

psandPo

werPo

intp

resentations

fork

eystakeh

olde

rson

theresults.R

esultsarefeatured

inthemed

ia,and

repo

rtsw

iththeresults

aremadeavailable

for a

llstakeh

olde

rgroup

s.Inadditio

n,custom

izedrepo

rtsa

realso

prep

ared

forspe

cific

stakeh

olde

rswhe

neverfun

dsareavailable.

22.A

ssessm

entinform

ationisused

bymoststakeh

olde

rgrou

pssuch

aspo

licym

akers,ed

ucators,teache

rs,stude

nt,teacher

traine

rs,curriculum

develope

rs,

UGA

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43

employers,andparentsinaway

that

isconsisten

twith

thestated

purposes

oftheassessmen

t.Morerecently,teachersh

avestronglyem

braced

theassessmen

tinform

ationto

improvetheirteaching.Other

stakeh

olde

rsareusingtheinform

ationto

influ

ence

theira

ctivities,alth

ough

ataslo

wpace.

23.Themechanism

sin

placeto

mon

itortheconseq

uences

ofNAP

Einclud

eape

rmanen

tadvisory

committee,regularfocusgrou

psandsurveysof

key

stakeh

olde

rs,and

expe

rtreview

grou

ps.

UGA

NDA

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UGANDA

InternationalLarge

ScaleAssessment(ILSA)

UGA

NDA

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45

ENABLINGCONTEXT

Overallfram

eworkof

policies,lead

ership,organ

izatio

nalstructures,fiscaland

human

resourcesinwhich

ILSA

takesp

lace

inacoun

tryor

system

andtheextent

towhich

that

fram

eworkiscond

uciveto,orsup

portiveof,ILSAactiv

ity.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

1:SettingclearpoliciesforILSA

Thecoun

try/system

hasno

tparticipated

inan

ILSA

inthelast10

years.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thecoun

try/system

hasparticipated

inat

leasto

neILSA

inthelast10

years.

Thecoun

try/system

hasparticipated

intw

oor

moreILSA

inthelast10

years.1

The

coun

try/system

has

not

taken

concrete

step

stoparticipateinan

ILSA

inthene

xt5years.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thecoun

try/system

hastakenconcrete

step

stoparticipateinat

leasto

neILSA

inthene

xt5years.

2

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

There

isno

policy

documen

tthat

addressesp

articipationinILSA

.There

isan

inform

alor

draft

policy

documen

tthata

ddresses

participationin

ILSA

.

Thereis

aform

alpo

licydo

cumen

tthat

addressesp

articipationinILSA

.3This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisno

tavailableto

thepu

blic.

Thepo

licydo

cumen

tisavailableto

the

public.4

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

ENABLINGCONTEXT

2:HavingregularfundingforILSA

Thereis

nofund

ingforparticipationin

ILSA

.Thereis

fund

ingfrom

loansor

external

dono

rs.5

There

isregularfund

ing

allocated

atdiscretio

n.Thereisregularfun

ding

approved

bylaw,

decree

orno

rm.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ingcovers

somecore

activ

ities

oftheILSA

.Fund

ingcovers

allc

oreactivities

ofthe

ILSA

.6This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

does

notcoverresearch

and

developm

enta

ctivities.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Fund

ing

covers

research

and

developm

enta

ctivities.7

(CONTINUE

D)*

* * *

*

*

*

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LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ENABLINGCONTEXT

3:Havingeffectivehuman

resourcesforILSA

There

isno

team

ornatio

nal/system

coordinator

tocarry

out

the

ILSA

activities.

There

isa

team

ornatio

nal/system

coordinator

tocarry

out

the

ILSA

activities.

There

isa

team

and

natio

nal/system

coordinator

tocarry

out

the

ILSA

activities.8

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

natio

nal/system

coordinator

orothe

rdesignatedteam

mem

berm

ayno

tbe

fluen

tin

the

language

ofthe

assessmen

t.

Thenatio

nal/system

coordinatorisfluen

tinthelanguage

oftheassessmen

t.9This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

TheILSA

officeisinadeq

uatelystaffedor

traine

dto

carry

out

the

assessmen

teffectively.

TheILSA

officeis

adeq

uately

staffedor

traine

dto

carryou

ttheILSA

effectively,

with

minim

alissue

s.10

TheILSA

officeisadeq

uatelystaffedand

traine

dto

carryou

ttheILSA

effectively,

with

noissue

s.

* * *

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SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT

Degree

towhich

theILSA

meetstechnicalqua

litystan

dards,isfair,

andisused

inan

effectiveway.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

SYSTEM

ALIGNMENT1:

ProvidingopportunitiestolearnaboutILSA

The

ILSA

team

has

not

attend

edinternationalw

orksho

psor

meetin

gs.

The

ILSA

team

attend

edsome

internationalw

orksho

psor

meetin

gs.

TheILSA

team

attend

edallinternatio

nal

worksho

psor

meetin

gs.11

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

coun

try/system

offers

noop

portun

ities

tolearnabou

tILSA.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

The

coun

try/system

offers

some

oppo

rtun

ities

tolearnabou

tILSA.

12Thecoun

try/system

offers

awiderange

ofop

portun

ities

tolearnabou

tILSA.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Opp

ortunitie

sto

learn

abou

tILSA

are

availableto

thecoun

try's/system

'sILSA

team

mem

berson

ly.13

Opp

ortunitie

sto

learn

abou

tILSA

are

availableto

awideaudien

ce,inadditio

nto

the

coun

try's/system

'sILSA

team

mem

bers.

* * *

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ASSESSMENTQUALITY

Degree

towhich

theILSA

meetstechnicalqua

litystan

dards,isfair,

andisused

inan

effectiveway.

LATENT

EMERGING

ESTABLISHED

ADVANCED

ASSESSMENTQUALITY1:

Ensuring

thequality

ofILSA

Data

from

the

ILSA

has

not

been

publish

ed.

The

coun

try/system

met

sufficien

tstandardsto

have

itsdata

presen

ted

bene

ath

the

main

display

ofthe

internationalrep

orto

rinan

anne

x.

The

coun

try/system

met

alltechnical

standards

requ

ired

tohave

itsdata

presen

ted

inthe

main

displays

ofthe

internationalrep

ort.

14

The

coun

try/system

met

alltechnical

standards

requ

ired

tohave

itsdata

presen

ted

inthe

main

displays

ofthe

internationalrep

ort.

Thecoun

try/system

hasno

tcontrib

uted

newknow

ledgeon

ILSA

.This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Thecoun

try/system

hascontrib

uted

new

know

ledgeon

ILSA

.15

ASSESSMENTQUALITY2:

Ensuring

effectiveusesofILSA

Ifany,

coun

try/system

specific

results

andinform

ationareno

tdissem

inated

inthecoun

try/system

.

Coun

try/system

specific

results

and

inform

ationaredissem

inated

irregularly

inthecoun

try/system

.16

Coun

try/system

specific

results

and

inform

ationareregularly

dissem

inated

inthecoun

try/system

.

Coun

try/system

specific

results

and

inform

ation

are

regularly

and

widely

dissem

inated

inthecoun

try/system

.

Prod

ucts

toprovidefeed

back

toscho

ols

anded

ucatorsabou

tthe

ILSA

results

are

notm

adeavailable.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Prod

ucts

toprovidefeed

back

toscho

ols

anded

ucatorsabou

tthe

ILSA

results

are

sometim

esmadeavailable.

17

Prod

ucts

toprovidefeed

back

toscho

ols

and

educators

abou

tILSA

results

are

system

aticallymadeavailable.

Thereisno

med

iacoverage

oftheILSA

results.18

Thereis

limite

dmed

iacoverage

ofthe

ILSA

results.

There

issome

med

iacoverage

ofthe

ILSA

results.

Thereiswidemed

iacoverage

oftheILSA

results.

Ifany,

coun

try/system

specific

results

andinform

ationfrom

theILSA

areno

tused

toinform

decisio

nmakingin

the

coun

try/system

.

Results

from

the

ILSA

are

used

ina

limite

dway

toinform

decisio

nmakingin

thecoun

try/system

.

Results

from

theILSA

areused

insome

waysto

inform

decisio

nmakingin

the

coun

try/system

.

Results

from

the

ILSA

are

used

ina

varie

tyof

ways

toinform

decisio

nmakinginthecoun

try/system

.19

Itis

notclearthat

decisio

nsbasedon

ILSA

results

have

hadapo

sitiveim

pact

onstud

ents'achievemen

tlevels.

20

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

This

optio

ndo

esno

tapply

tothis

dimen

sion.

Decisio

nsbasedon

theILSA

results

have

had

apo

sitive

impact

onstud

ents'

achievem

entlevels.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

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InternationalLargeScaleAssessment(ILSA)

1.Ugand

ahasp

articipated

intw

ointernationallarge

scaleassessmen

ts:

SACM

EQII(199

920

04)

SACM

EQIII(200

520

09)

2.Ugand

ahastaken

concrete

step

stoparticipateinSA

CMEQ

IV(201020

15).Apilotstudy

has b

eenconclude

dandtheresults

arebe

inganalyzed

.

3.TheEd

ucationPo

licyRe

view

Commiss

ion(198

9),o

nwhich

theGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ronEducation(199

2)isbased,

repo

rted

alack

ofreliableandup

todate

data

oned

ucationalind

icators.Th

eGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ron

Educationrecommen

dedthereview

anddiversificatio

nof

theassessmen

tsused

bythe

Ugand

aNationalExaminations

Board.

Thede

cisio

nto

incorporateUgand

ainto

SACM

EQwas

madein

1998

whe

ntheMinister

ofEducationandSportsen

tered

into

anagreem

entcom

mittingUgand

a’sp

articipation.

4.TheGo

vernmen

tWhite

Pape

ron

Educationisavailablein

theMinistry

ofEducationRe

source

Center

andun

iversitylibrarie

s,andcopies

canbe

purchased

from

thegovernmen

tboo

ksho

pandothe

rleading

bookstores.

5.Fund

ingforSA

CMEQ

IIIwas

earm

arkedpartly

from

theregulargovernmen

tbu

dget,a

llocatedat

discretio

n.TheGo

vernmen

tof

theNethe

rland

swas

the

largestfund

erforSA

CMEQ

III.O

ther

fund

ingwas

received

from

UNICEF. H

owever,the

Governmen

tof

theNethe

rland

swill

notfund

SACM

EQIV,a

ndthe

Governmen

tofU

gand

aisexpe

cted

tomeetthe

costso

fadm

inisteringSA

CMEQ

IV.

6.Fund

ingforS

ACMEQ

IIIcoveredim

plem

entatio

nof

theassessmen

texercise

inUgand

a,theprocessin

gandanalysisof

thedata

collected

from

theassessmen

texercise,and

repo

rtinganddissem

inatingtheresults.Fun

ding

was

also

allocatedfora

tten

danceat

internationalexpertm

eetin

gsforthe

assessmen

texercise

.

7.Fund

ingforS

ACMEQ

IIIcoveredresearch

andde

velopm

enta

ctivities.

8.Theteam

respon

sible

forcarrying

outSA

CMEQ

iscomprise

dof

theNationalC

oordinator,w

hoistheMinister

ofEducationandSports,a

ndtw

oNational

Research

Coordinators,w

hoaretheop

erationalm

anagersthatw

orkwith

ateam

intheDe

partmen

tofE

ducatio

nPlanning,M

inistry

ofEducationandSports.

9.TheNationalC

oordinator

andthetw

oNationalR

esearchCo

ordinators

areflu

entin

thelanguage

inwhich

theinternationallevel

meetin

gsarecond

ucted.

They

have

attend

edvario

usinternationalw

orksho

ps,m

eetin

gs,and

trainings.Theteam

hasprevious

expe

rienceworking

oninternationalassessm

entsandhas

thene

cessarytraining

andexpe

rienceto

carryou

tthe

requ

iredassessmen

tactivities

effectively.

10.O

nlyminim

alissue

shave

been

iden

tifiedwith

thecarrying

outo

fthe

internationalassessm

ent.For e

xample,theup

loaded

softwarefrom

SACM

EQisusually

inahigher

version,

which

causes

errors

orde

lays

intheprintin

gandlayout

ofthetest

booklets.T

hese

errors

areminim

alandmainlyarise

becauseof

form

atcontrol.Fore

xample,theup

loaded

MicrosoftWordandExceldocum

entsfrom

SACM

EQmay

beinan

updatedform

at(200

7),yet

thecompu

tersintheStatistics

unitrunaprevious

versionof

MicrosoftWordandExcel(20

03).Th

eseerrorsareminim

alandareusually

corrected.

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11.The

NationalCoo

rdinator

andthetw

oNationalResearchCo

ordinatorshave

attend

edallofthe

internationalm

eetin

gsto

which

they

wereinvited.

12.O

pportunitie

sto

learnabou

tinternationala

ssessm

ents

includ

efund

ingto

attend

worksho

psor

meetin

gson

usinginternationala

ssessm

entdatabases.

Fund

inghasalso

been

offeredforattend

inginternationalw

orksho

psor

training

oninternationala

ssessm

ents.S

uchop

portun

ities

areofferedeveryyear

and

they

areavailableto

theNationalCoo

rdinator,the

NationalResearchCo

ordinators,and

master’s

degree

stud

entsstud

ying

assessmen

tora

relatedarea.

13.The

individu

alsw

orking

directlyon

SACM

EQbe

nefit

from

theop

portun

ities

tolearnabou

tinternatio

nalassessm

ents.For

exam

ple,theNationalCoo

rdinator,

thetw

oNationalResearchCo

ordinators,and

master’s

degree

stud

entsstud

ying

assessmen

tora

relatedarea

areinvitedto

theinternationaltrainingworksho

ps.

Theon

lylocalw

orksho

pshe

ldareforind

ividualswho

areinvolved

inadministeringtheSA

CMEQ

questio

nnaires.Theseworksho

psareusually

held

priortothe

commen

cemen

tofthe

data

collectionexercise.M

aster’s

degree

stud

entsstud

ying

assessmen

tora

relatedarea

areno

tinvite

dto

theseworksho

ps.

14.U

gand

amet

alltechn

icalstandardsreq

uiredto

have

itsdata

presen

tedinthemaindisplays

oftheinternationalrep

ort.

15.Ugand

ahascontrib

uted

totheglob

alknow

ledgebase

oninternationalassessmen

tsby

gene

ratin

gne

wknow

ledgeandmakingit

availablethrough

publications

andpresen

tatio

ns,including

through:

a.SA

CMEQ

NationalRep

ort

b.NationalPolicyBriefs

c.Re

search

Pape

rsandTh

eses

16.T

heresults

from

SACM

EQIII

weredissem

inated

inUgand

a.Po

werPo

intp

resentations

with

thecoun

try’sresults

weremadeavailableto

keystakeh

olde

rs,

includ

ingofficials

from

theMinistry

ofEducationandSports,theNationalC

urriculum

Developm

entCe

ntre,theUgand

aNationalE

xaminations

Board,

the

Directorateof

EducationStandards,He

adTeache

rs,teachers,andteache

rtrainers.Ho

wever,the

SACM

EQIIInatio

nalrep

orth

asno

tbeenprintedyet.

17.Theresults

ofSA

CMEQ

IIIhave

been

fedback

toscho

olsanded

ucatorsby

PowerPo

intpresen

tatio

ns.Nobrochu

reswith

thecoun

try’sresults

were

distrib

uted

tokeystakeh

olde

rs.D

issem

inationof

thefin

dingstoalarger

audien

ceof

scho

olsa

nded

ucatorsh

asbe

enlim

itedby

fund

ing.

18.SAC

MEQ

IIIresults

have

notb

eencoveredintheUgand

anmed

ia.

19.The

results

oftheinternationalassessm

ente

xercise

have

brou

ghtthe

attentionof

policym

akers,teache

rs,and

educatorstothestrengthsa

ndweaknessesin

stud

entachievem

entin

readingandmathe

matics.Thefin

dingshave

been

used

bytheMinistry

ofEd

ucationandSports

toaddresstheissue

oflow

levelsof

mastery

ofreadingandmathe

maticssubjects.Th

eresults

oftheinternationala

ssessm

entexercise

have

been

used

bypo

licym

akersto

inform

curriculum

improvem

ent.Th

eNationalCurriculum

Developm

entC

entre(NCD

C)hasu

sedthefin

dingsto

inform

itsed

ucationreform

sund

erthelower

second

aryed

ucation,

exam

ination,

andassessmen

t project.Inpartdu

eto

thefin

dingsof

theinternationalassessm

ente

xercise

,ane

wOLevelcurriculum

forlow

ersecond

arywillbe

laun

ched

in20

17(see

http://w

ww.inde

pend

ent.co.ug/ugand

atalks/201

3/06

/new

olevelcurriculum

pushed

to20

17/).Ad

ditio

nally,the

findings

ofthe

internationalassessm

ente

xercise

have

been

used

toinform

teache

rtraining

programs.Forinstance,

thefin

dingshave

been

used

bytheMinistry

ofEducation

UGA

NDA

SABE

RSTUDE

NTAS

SESSMEN

TSA

BERCO

UNTR

YRE

PORT

|201

2

SYSTEM

SAP

PROAC

HFO

RBE

TTER

EDUCA

TIONRE

SULTS

51

andSportsto

inform

thede

signof

continuo

usassessmen

tguide

lines

fortutorsin

Prim

aryTeache

rColleges(PTC

s).T

hefin

dingshave

also

been

used

toinform

theconten

tand

deliveryof

pre

andin

serviceteache

rtrainingprogramstoen

sure

that

they

aremorerespon

siveto

thene

edso

fthe

teache

rs.

Theresults

oftheinternationalassessm

ente

xercise

have

been

used

toinform

resource

allocatio

n.Fore

xample,

thefin

dingshave

been

used

bytheMinistry

ofEducationandSports

toinform

thesupp

lyof

teache

rs,c

lassroom

s,essentialclassroom

resources,textbo

oks,andteaching

aids

toscho

olsandregion

swith

inadeq

uate

supp

lyof

theseresources.

20.The

reisno

eviden

ceof

apo

sitiveim

pact

onstud

enta

chievemen

tlevelsfrom

theuses

ofSA

CMEQ

III.Evide

nceon

stud

enta

chievemen

tlevelsbe

tweenthe

SACM

EQIIandSA

CMEQ

IIIadministratio

nsislargelymixed

.For

exam

ple,

comparison

ofSA

CMEQ

IIresults

(from

2000

)and

SACM

EQIII

results

(from

2010

)in

readingforPrim

ary6stud

ents

show

that

therewas

anincrease

inthepe

rcen

tage

ofgrade6pu

pilsreaching

compe

tencylevels3to

6.Ho

wever,the

rewas

ade

clinein

thepe

rcen

tage

ofgrade6pu

pilsreaching

compe

tencylevels1,

7and8.

Overall,thenatio

nalm

eanscoreforreading

was

478.7on

SACM

EQIII,d

own

from

482.4on

SACM

EQII.

Additio

nally,com

parison

ofSA

CMEQ

IIresults

(from

2000

)and

SACM

EQIII

results

(from

2010

)for

Prim

ary6stud

entinmathe

matics

show

that

thepe

rcen

tage

ofgrade6pu

pilsreaching

mathe

maticsc

ompe

tencyincreasedforlevels2

to4.Forcom

petencylevels1,5,6,7,and8,thepe

rcen

tage

ofpu

pilsreaching

mathe

maticsc

ompe

tencyde

clined

.Overall,thenatio

nalm

eanscoreform

athe

maticsde

clined

from

506.3on

SACM

EQIIto

481.9on

SACM

EQIII.

UGANDA SABER STUDENT ASSESSMENT SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012

SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 52

AcknowledgementsThis report was prepared by The World Bank SABERStudent Assessment team in collaboration withInnocent Mulindwa, World Bank Senior EducationSpecialist and Task Team Leader for Education projectsin Uganda, and Damalie Sentumbwe, Lecturer,Makerere University.

ReferencesClarke, M. 2012. “What Matters Most for StudentAssessment Systems: A Framework Paper.”READ/SABER Working Paper Series. Washington, DC:World Bank.

Ministry of Education and Sports. 2008. “RevisedEducation Sector Strategic Plan 2007 2015.” Kampala:Republic of Uganda.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization – Institute for Statistics. 2013. UISStatistics in Brief. “Education Profile: Uganda.”Montreal: UNESCO UIS.

World Bank. Uganda Country Indicator Data.Washington, DC: World Bank. Data retrieved fromhttp://data.worldbank.org/ on July 8, 2013.

UGANDA SABER STUDENT ASSESSMENT SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012

SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS 2

www.worldbank.org/education/saber

The Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiativeproduces comparative data and knowledge on education policies andinstitutions, with the aim of helping countries systematically strengthentheir education systems. SABER evaluates the quality of educationpolicies against evidence based global standards, using new diagnostictools and detailed policy data. The SABER country reports give allparties with a stake in educational results—from administrators,teachers, and parents to policymakers and business people—anaccessible, objective snapshot showing how well the policies of theircountry's education system are oriented toward ensuring that allchildren and youth learn.

This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of studentassessment.

This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusionsexpressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or thegovernments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. Theboundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on thepart of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

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