Monitoring Student Progress in Reading
In Austria, no formal external testing occurs during compulsory education that has consequences for individual students; only teachers assess student performance. Teacher generated assessment is based on classroom participation as well as on the results of oral, written, practical, and graphical work. Primary school students take written school examinations in German and mathematics in Grade 4. In lower secondary schools, students are required to pass classroom examinations in German, mathematics, and the first foreign language (most commonly English). As a rule, progression to the next educational level depends on achievement in all subjects. Students receive reports at the end of each term and at the end of the academic year.
Regarding the progression of students in new secondary school (Neue Mittelschule) in Grades 7 and 8, German, mathematics, and a modern foreign language are taught based on in-depth general education (the educational objective of the lower level of Allgemeinbildende höhere Schule [AHS]) and basic general education (content at a less complex level). The achievement of educational objectives is recorded in the end of year reports of Grades 7 and 8 with differentiation between in-depth and basic general education.
At new secondary schools, in addition to the assessment with numerical marks, an alternative form of performance motivating assessment (e.g., verbal assessment, learning objective catalogs, portfolios) is legally stipulated to be carried out at least twice every school year. Together with the school report, pupils given an EDL (a supplementary differentiating performance description, short for the German Ergänzende Differenzierende Leistungsbeschreibung), which is oriented toward students’ potential.
In 2009, the Austrian government mandated educational standards based on the core curriculum for German, reading, writing, and mathematics in primary school and German, mathematics, and English in secondary school. For these subjects, the Austrian Educational Standards determine the basic competencies students normally should have acquired by the end of Grade 4 (primary school) and by the end of Grade 8 (secondary school). The standards aim to strengthen teacher output orientation regarding planning lessons as well as conducting the lessons themselves. Furthermore, the standards provide a benchmark for student competencies with regard to diagnostic and individual support. The educational standards are required to be fully assessed throughout the nation. This mandated regular assessment is intended to foster the development of quality within individual schools and to enable review of the efficiency of the education system (system monitoring). Therefore, teachers and schools receive external feedback about testing results. Specialists support the schools by interpreting the results and devising specific strategies for each school. Although the standards are objectives for teachers and are therefore incorporated when teaching and grading the students, the results of the Educational Standards Assessments must not influence student grades.
At the eighth grade, the first nationwide Educational Standards Assessment in mathematics took place in 2012. English followed in 2013, and German in 2016. At the fourth grade, the educational standards in mathematics were assessed for the first time in 2013, followed by German, reading, and writing in 2015. Baseline tests were conducted in secondary schools in 2009 and in primary schools in 2010 with a random sample of schools to obtain data about the state of the acquired competences at the beginning of the process.