Nepal: project activities and upcoming achievements

“Strengthening Assessment and Examination Systems in Nepal’s School Sector”

Focal Areas
• Enhancing stakeholder capacity to use assessment data to improve teaching and learning
• High-stakes examination program reform

October – December 2018 Achievements
• Prepared a detailed timeline for the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) standardization process
• Prepared item writing manuals for Grade 10 Language, Math, and Science SEE for central item writers
• Conducted SEE item writing and specification grid elaboration workshops for central level item writers, attended by 36 subject experts (12 each from English, Math and Science) from academia and 11 from the National Examinations Board (NEB)/Office of the Controller of Exams (OCE). The grid elaboration workshops, among other outcomes, clarified subject content and cognitive behavior assessed, and specified guidelines to evaluate developed items and ensure that they meet standard requirements
• Completed sampling of district and schools for SEE item pre-testing and examination piloting
• Prepared draft terms of reference for hiring a consulting firm to support NEB to administer the SEE item pre-testing and examination piloting
• Completed the analysis of Grade 10 National Assessment of Student Achievement (NASA) item pretesting and item selection
• Disseminated a draft National Assessment framework for Grade 3 Numeracy and Literacy
• Received validation on classroom-based Early Grade Reading Assessment (CB-EGRA) tools by the NEB
Subject Committee

Upcoming Achievements
• Prepare questions for SEE item pre-testing and piloting for Grade 10 Math, Science, and English
• Hire a consulting firm for SEE item pre-testing and piloting, and complete pre-testing and piloting
• Complete SEE subject-wise item writing manual for Grade 10 Math, Science, and English
• Complete Province-level item writing training for the seven provinces under the new federal structure
• Install appropriate item banking software in NEB for item banking
• Conduct additional on-the-job capacity training for item writers for NEB during item preparation/finalization and preparation for piloting the Grade 10 SEE in 2019
• Conduct capacity building of the Education Review Office (ERO) on large-scale data analysis to improve data management of Grade 10 NASA using Item Response Theory and computer software “Conquest” to support year-wise and international comparisons of results with linked items from PISA
• Finalize the Grade 3 Numeracy and Literacy Assessment Framework
• Conduct analysis of Grade 5 NASA data and prepare a report on the analysis
• Conduct first round of Grade 10 NASA

• Prepare tools for the Grade 3 CB-EGRA for Nepali language based on the Grade 3 Numeracy and
Literacy Framework