The evaluation and assessment framework

Evaluation and assessment in the Czech Republic operates at four key levels: (i) system (national and regional subsystems) – namely through education indicators and international student surveys (ii) school – external inspection by the Czech School Inspectorate and school self-evaluation (iii) teacher – through school-dictated approaches to performance management and (iv) student – with instruments ranging from external national examinations to ongoing daily formative assessment in the classroom. The overall evaluation and assessment framework appears fragmented with individual components which developed independently of each other over time. Particularly positive characteristics of the framework include the existence of common references at the national level good conditions for adapting learning to local needs a good articulation of responsibilities a range of initiatives to strengthen evaluation and assessment the “open door” climate among teachers and the growing understanding of the need to support policy work with specific expertise. However, considerable challenges exist in building an effective evaluation and assessment framework. These include the incipient development of some key components missing links between different elements of the framework insufficient attention to equity and inclusion student learning objectives not perceived as specific enough to guide teaching and assessment a narrow understanding of the purposes of evaluation and assessment insufficient competencies for evaluation and assessment across the system limited support from the centre and inadequate articulation between levels of government.