Helping Teachers Learn About Quality Testing

USAID Primary Education Project (PEP) and the State Examination Center (SEC) on March 9 signed a Memorandum of Understanding to announce the start of their collaboration on developing a web based test items bank.   

PEP Component “Improving School Based Assessment” (SBA) in collaboration with the Macedonian Civic Education Center (MCEC) is aiming to improve quality of tests developed by teachers and to raise testing culture in schools as part of improving SBA. Approximately 150 teachers, teaching different subjects, were trained in test items development. It is planed that the tests items developed by trained teachers, to be available for use to a broad range. They, along with training manual and materials will serve as learning resources for tests development. To secure sharing test items developed by teachers, PEP will support the development of a web based item bank.  The test items bank will be designed as a self-sustainable tool that requires teachers to upload their own test items in order to download any. It will also provide teachers the opportunity to review and comment on each other’s items. 

To secure quality reviewing of the items, as well as sustainable administration, PEP agreed with the State Examination Center, the institution responsible for different kind of students’ testing, to work together on designing the test items bank. After the completion of the Primary Education Project, SEC will continue to maintain the test item bank.

“The web based test items bank will provide high quality test items that teachers will be able to use in their every day work”, Metodija Jancevski, Director of the State Examination Center.  
The test items bank’s development is planned to be finished by mid May this year, when it will be ready for broad use by all primary school teachers in the country.

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