Morocco

Monitoring Student Progress in Reading

The Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training has implemented policies that require students to pass exit examinations at each level of education to obtain a leaving certificate and continue to the next level. However, at the primary school level promotion generally is automatic, although a few students may be held back on the basis of final scores. Therefore, dropout rates have declined over the last 15 years, particularly for primary school students.

At each educational cycle, the following exit examinations are administered:

• Primary school exit examination—This is administered in all 12 regions of Morocco and developed by a commission of experienced inspectors and teachers from the Academies for Education and Training and provincial directorates. Students must pass this examination to be eligible for admission to lower secondary school.
• Lower secondary school exit examination—This also is administered in all 12 regions of Morocco and developed by a commission of experienced inspectors and teachers from the Academies for Education and Training and provincial directorates. Successful students are awarded a leaving certificate and eligible for enrollment in upper secondary schools.
• The baccalaureate examination—This is a national achievement examination developed at the National Center for Examinations. The examination takes three or four days to complete and covers the content and objectives outlined in the syllabi for upper secondary education. The content of the examination depends on the specific coursework taken by students. Some subjects are tested through school assessment at the end of the first or second year of baccalaureate education or through the regional examination administered in the second semester of the first year of baccalaureate education. Students who achieve an overall average of 10 or higher on a 20 point scale are awarded a baccalaureate diploma. The National Charter for Education and Training stipulates that all students who pass the baccalaureate examination are eligible (in the year in which they pass the examination) for tuition free studies at one of the country’s public universities.

Formative assessment is an important source of feedback for teachers and is geared toward helping them gauge the effectiveness of their teaching strategies in relation to the curriculum, as well as to orient their teaching style to student learning styles.^c Teachers use formative assessment aligned with ministerial circulars and pedagogical guidelines as a source of information about student progress and ability. Formative assessments are curriculum-based tests of student competencies that provide opportunities for remediation.^32,33

The 1999 Charter for Education and Training stipulated that Morocco’s assessment and certification system should be overhauled. In response, the National Center for Evaluation and Examinations has led significant reform of the assessment and certification system. In an effort to ensure uniformity and standardization in the evaluation process, the center developed frameworks and procedures for the design, administration, and scoring of examination papers. Moreover, in collaboration with the Higher Council for Education, the center launched the National Program for the Evaluation of Acquired Learning Outcomes (Programme National d’Evaluation des Acquis, or PNEA) to implement a periodic assessment of student learning. The PNEA system of assessment makes it possible to gauge whether learning outcomes have been met and to define a benchmark against which to evaluate systematically the quality of education being provided. The 2008 PNEA executive summary includes recommendations to improve the teaching and learning of languages, mathematics, and science.³⁴

An in-depth diagnosis of the school examinations and certification system is underway within the National Center for Evaluation and Examinations with the aim of redefining the system within a national policy framework for evaluating learning outcomes. The National Education Emergency Support Program 2009–2012 and priority measures and the integrated projects being undertaken are the outcome of the 2015–2030 national strategic vision as well as a variety of studies and assessments. They all aim to reform the system of assessment and certification to make it more credible. A series of measures and procedures that are more favorable to equity and equal opportunities must be taken in all examinations, including ongoing evaluation in the years to come.³⁵