 On March 14, 2009, a press tour under the title “The Open Day – Trial External Testing” took place at one of the selected institutions of trial external testing, Lyceum №100, Kyiv. Students were invited to take a trial external test, under the same conditions as they would face at the end of their secondary education prior to entering university, and journalists were invited to follow and report directly on the experience. The event was organized by the Information Center of Independent Assessment established under the joint project of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) and the World Bank “Equal Access to Quality Education in Ukraine” in Kyiv. There was a lot of interest from the general public and from mass media in the event; as a result the Open Day was covered by six national and four regional television channels, five radio stations; over 190 publications appeared in printed and online media.
During the press tour, the journalists were given a chance to see the whaole process with their own eyes and to record it: from checking students’ ID cards at the entrance of the Lyceum and giving pre-testing instructional advice, to opening the envelopes with the tasks set for the test and the start of the examination. “Our daughter expressed a wish to go through trial assessment, and we were eager to agree. Testing is a new phenomenon for schoolchildren, and it is very important to psychologically adapt to it. It is wonderful to have an opportunity to be trained under conditions similar to real ones,” says Ms. Nataliya Ivanova, the mother of a secondary school graduate.  While the students were working on their tests, in the school hall there was a briefing for journalists with the participation of key officials, responsible for the 2009 National Education Assessment (NEA): from the Ministry of Education and Science, Mr.Oleh Yeresko, from the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Evaluation (UCEQE), Mr. Igor Likarchuk, from the Kyiv Municipal Center for Education Quality Evaluation, Mrs. Halyna Solodka and from the Department on Education and Science of KMSA, Mrs. Liliya Grynevych.
“We are grateful to the journalists for the attention they pay to external assessment. We believe that the openness and transparency of our work, along with the awareness and professionalism of mass media, is a pledge of confidence in external assessment and success of education reforms,” emphasized Halyna Solodka, the vice director of the UCEQE. Since 2006 the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has been implementing the Project “Equal Access to Quality Education in Ukraine” financed by the World Bank. The Project’s three components include professional development of educators, improvement of the learning process, and efficiency and management of resources – re-equipment and renovation of rural schools.
Under the Project, 110 master trainers of the in-service teacher training system and 72 master trainers specialized in methods of leadership training for school directors were trained; and computer classes were procured, delivered, and installed in 530 schools of Ukraine. This year, the Project is focusing on the repair of rural schools in six pilot regions of Ukraine. The National External Assessment of secondary school graduates has been strongly supported by the Project as well since its inception in 2006; indeed, the Information Center of Independent Assessment was established in spring 2007 with support from the WB loan. |
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