{"id":54002,"date":"2020-09-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=54002"},"modified":"2020-09-14T12:57:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T19:57:21","slug":"school-national-assessments-is-it-the-right-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/school-national-assessments-is-it-the-right-time\/","title":{"rendered":"School: national assessments, is it the right time?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Are the young classes of our \u201clearning nation\u201d condemned to come and bang their heads on the \u201cchestnut tree\u201d of evaluation?\u00a0As for the Covid-19, it may seem essential to “test”.\u00a0But as with Covid-19, the cardinal question is who to test, and when.\u00a0What is at stake is the benefit expected from the test.<\/p>\n

Between September 14 and September 25 for\u00a0CP and CE1<\/a>\u00a0, until October 2, in the case of the\u00a0sixth<\/a>\u00a0, students from all over France will take assessments in French and math, while positioning tests are repeated. at the entry into second.\u00a0So to what extent can early-year evaluations be beneficial, for whom, and from what point of view?<\/p>\n

Diagnosis required<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There is a radical difference between a biological test, and an academic assessment: ignorance is not a disease.\u00a0On the one hand, it is a question of providing a clear answer (“positive” or “negative”) to a specific question (is this individual affected by the virus?).\u00a0On the other hand, it is a question of deciding on levels, both individual (pupils) and collective (classes, or establishments).\u00a0The answers are then always questionable, because evaluation is not a science.<\/p>\n

It remains nonetheless, in the field of teaching and educational activities, a necessity, within the framework of a model of action “diagnosis \/ treatment” (or: identification \/ adaptation; or again: ” objective measurement \/ educational use).\u00a0As the<\/a>\u00a0Scientific Council for National Education\u00a0has<\/a>\u00a0forcefully\u00a0affirmed<\/a>\u00a0, it is a question of “evaluating to better help each child”, by articulating a diagnosis, if possible scientific, with an educational intervention, then informed.\u00a0We observe and locate (evaluation), in order to be able to adjust (pedagogical use).<\/p>\n

Under these conditions, it makes sense to want to diagnose as early as possible.\u00a0In\u00a0their report<\/a>\u00a0devoted to “national evaluations of the second degree (sixth and second)”, the inspectors general write that, if they find that the question of the timetable of operations preoccupied the college, this does not prevent them from pleading for an evaluation. taking place before the end of September.<\/p>\n

Undeniable risks<\/strong><\/h4>\n

However, if the intentions of the ministry which imposes these early evaluations (at the very beginning of the year) can be considered indisputably good, their realization raises difficulties and exposes a certain number of dangers.\u00a0First of all, because the model which legitimizes the organization of early evaluations requires the evaluation to be diagnostic, that is to say to allow an analysis and an understanding of the observed situation.<\/p>\n

However, there is a risk, for national evaluations, of functioning as normative evaluations, which favor comparisons and rankings.\u00a0Does the<\/a>\u00a0CSEN not\u00a0assert<\/a>\u00a0that “only national evaluations make it possible to situate each pupil in relation to a national benchmark”?<\/p>\n

Here it is less the objective measurement of pupils’ knowledge and skills that is important, than the identification of differentiated teaching needs.\u00a0This is what the\u00a0official back-<\/a>\u00a0to-school\u00a0texts say<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0Teachers must be able to \u201cidentify their students’ needs from the start of the year\u201d in order to \u201cimplement the personalized assistance required as quickly as possible\u201d.\u00a0It is a question of “making a precise diagnosis of the needs of the pupils in order to better help them”.\u00a0The precision of the diagnosis prevails over what would be the scientificity of a measurement.\u00a0The need to situate must not stifle the need to analyze and understand.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, are the conditions for a calm diagnosis met, especially after\u00a0the crazy year<\/a>\u00a0that the students have just experienced?\u00a0Isn’t there a too brutal return to the harsh reality of school tests, for pupils whom the previous six months are far from having placed in optimal conditions for learning?<\/p>\n

Technical criticisms can be addressed to these national assessments: the access codes are unnecessarily complex;\u00a0the award is time consuming;\u00a0some events are poorly calibrated, and of inadequate duration.\u00a0But above all, we can fear negative effects of a psychological or social nature: stress produced by the compulsory dimension of assessment, both for students and for families;\u00a0stigmatizing failure for “stunned” students at the start of the year.<\/p>\n

Nothing is decided in advance<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In evaluation, the difficult thing is to find a balance between too much and too little.\u00a0And to be able to do the right thing, at the right time.\u00a0But things are not locked into a script written in advance.\u00a0Ultimately, everything will depend on the way in which teachers take hold (or not) of these evaluations, and the concrete use they make of them.\u00a0From this point of view, all hope is not lost.<\/p>\n

Indeed, if the\u00a02020<\/a>\u00a0IGESR report notes, for the second stage, a “limited interest of teachers”, the\u00a02019\/096 report<\/a>\u00a0, devoted to national assessments in the first stage, reports a “massive adherence to proposed tasks \u201d.\u00a0Certainly, reservations have been made on the duration of the sequences, or on certain exercises, in particular in mathematics.\u00a0But the main regret is that “we do not see what is done with evaluations at the constituency level”, this lack of visibility can give rise to suspicions of hidden purposes.\u00a0The teachers expect “support for the pedagogical use of the results”.<\/p>\n

Three main scenarios are then possible:<\/p>\n