Kyrgyz Republic: project activities and upcoming achievements

“Strengthening Student Assessment for Improved Learning”

Focal Areas
• Enhancing stakeholder capacity to use assessment data to improve teaching and learning
• High-stakes examination program reform
• Training and professional development of teachers in use of classroom assessment practices

October – December 2018 Achievements
• Trained four Kyrgyz psychometricians at Cito on the technical aspects of secondary analysis of the 2017 National Sample Based Assessment (NSBA) results, including on Item Response Theory (IRT) modeling and on designing sample based national assessments
• Discussed the draft secondary analysis of the NSBA 2017 with a group of key experts
• Conducted the third round of trainings for 40 test developers and National Testing Center (NTC) staff on the basics of item writing for multiple-choice questions for all grade 11 subjects, with a focus on the evaluation of test items developed and quality assurance steps
• Supported development of the Concept Paper on the National Assessment for general education, and presented a new scoring scale of learning achievements
• Provided practical support to 14 pilot schools’ 14 mentors and 28 teachers on tracking the Emotional Support domain of classroom practice (including cycle tracking forms and video segments of the classroom practice)
• Conducted trainings on the Classroom Organization domain of classroom practice for selected teachers, mentor and Deputy Directors of 14 schools
• Monitored the training and coaching processes of the teacher professional development models (CLASS and Coaching) with international technical assistance from the University of Virginia

Upcoming Achievements
• Present and discuss NSBA 2017 secondary analysis results at a roundtable conference with key stakeholders
• Develop test items for school leaving exams in all main subjects (math, languages, science)
• Draft the Item Writers’ Manual on elements of item development with specific recommendations for subjects (languages, math, science, history and civics) and statistics, incorporating examples and an Item Writer’s Checklist for the NTC to use when instructing and training the national test writers beyond the project life
• Provide coaching support to selected teachers and mentors on the Classroom Organization domain of classroom practice