The Knowledge and Human Development Authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have made a formal requirement that standardized reading knowledge and intelligence assessment tests will be taken by all Dubai school students between the ages of 6 and 15 in the area at the following schools.
The educational authority has ruled that all tutees in Dubai, between the ages of 6 and 15 must take the exam. Beginning with the period 2023-2024, all schools in Dubai will participate in the Arabic Benchmark Test, which is given to learners in classes 1 through 9, and the digital Reading Literacy exam, which covers classes 1 through 12.
“According to current KHDA standards, all children in the age range of 6 to 15 are supposed to sit a standardized reading evaluation 3 times every session,” explains Peter Bonner, Assistant Principal Primary – Curriculum, Progress and Assessment, GEMS World Academy – Dubai.
Vendor of Evaluations
Institutes must select a vendor who complies with the entire criteria for external benchmark evaluations listed below:
All pupils in the relevant classes are obliged to complete the supplier, which enables them to measure progress during the academic and track their achievement patterns in reading skills over time. Following that, they can pinpoint any information gap including both specific groups of pupils as well as individuals.
All age categories should receive an independent external supplier for each aspect. This encourages more consistency and dependability in data collection and produces data that can be examined and analyzed over time, enabling them to precisely gauge their performance and growth.
Institutes make ensuring that the exam is administered during the allotted times and that all the designated learner groups are verified. Your exam administration software and other specialized components may be provided by the suppliers.
Schools must switch from paper and pencil to digital distributor methods.
All pupils at local schools that have never conducted cognitive aptitude validation from grades G3 through G9 must take the exam session(Y4 – Y10). To grant KHDA access to the data, all are obligated to sign a valid data that is issued by the supplier.
Evaluate Reading Abilities
According to the recommendations, exams must evaluate reading abilities across a variety of domains, with adequate maturity level emphasis. Examples include, and are not confined to phonemic awareness, word recognition and phonics, reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, interpretive and comparative analysis of passages, application of understanding and critique of the text, and comprehension of different genres, including poetry.
Determined Students
As many motivated learners as feasible should complete the necessary external evaluations since they offer important data to support the development and instructional strategies, coaching, and studying.
Some individuals may gain assistance from “access arrangements” to facilitate fair opportunities for the evaluation and guarantee that the results are valid and meaningful. Individuals with disabilities who fall into this category should be given the same modifications that are utilized to help them participate in, access, and succeed in the regular examination procedures.
With assistance from these access measures, it is anticipated that practically all of them with the necessary motivation will take part in and complete the necessary external examinations.
Involvement in these external evaluations may not be acceptable for some pupils of determination, typically those who suffer the most complicated and major learning hurdles. In these situations, school’s have the authority to waive the participation demand for these pupils.
Assessment of cognitive skills
All pupils must be included in analyses that measure cognitive development, and they must also measure cognitive abilities in at least four different domains of reasoning, including verbal, nonverbal, mathematical, and spatial thinking.
Assess cognitive thinking abilities without taking into account a particular, necessary knowledge, i.e., the exam must be wholly free of any prior curricular knowledge;
Provide thorough data analyses and reports on gaps and skill development for all classes, with detailed and clear identification of improvement paths for each teacher/group/year and for the overall standard.
Ideally, provide forecasts for the typical future attainment with similar cognitive profiles across different years in external examinations for the major international level in Dubai private schools, such as IGCSE, A level, and IBDP.
Measuring Success and Progress
They ought to assess learners’ reading, math, science, and language skills by the class of the respective schools, as well as their ability to apply their knowledge and abilities to real-world problems.
All needed must originate from a single supplier. All needed subjects, except Arabic, must be offered by that vendor; however, Arabic may be sourced from a different supplier.
This examines skills and knowledge for all needed at least once a year and should be regularly used to evaluate education systems around the world.
Externally created and evaluated appraisals are required.
They must provide a clear indicator of tutees’ progress focused on a similar depth of subject knowledge as internal and external exams conducted by schools.
The results should clearly show how well pupils are doing in comparison to the educational specification and how their performance has changed over time.
From the point of material delivery to institution, through invigilation and returning materials to the carrier, through to marking and reporting of results by the distributor, academies must always maintain integrity and security.
For all levels being examined, the vendor must give academies in-depth data analyses and reports on their performance, growth, and skill development in math, language/reading, and science. This should ideally include a thorough and distinct identification and gaps for each teacher, group, year, and institution.
Cognitive ability results should be compared to and aligned with those from each judgment.
Educational Standard in Reading
They should be applicable and updated among all disciples and across all courses, and be external, and trustworthy evaluations of reading.
The test must measure a variety of reading-related abilities with age-appropriate emphases, such as phonemic awareness, word recognition, phonological awareness, reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, analytic and observational analysis of passages, application of understanding and criticism of the text, and comprehension of various genres, including poetry.
Spelling, grammar, and writing should not be evaluated in the same direction, and should always retain a continuous focus on reading comprehension.
At the time of year when this is done, providers should submit the results reflecting each pupil’s reading age about grade/year level. For ease of data comparability, it should also generate a SAS (Standard Age Score) for each pupil in Dubai, UAE.
To identify the needs of each candidate and provide support interventions, they should offer a thorough analysis of the results and domain diagnostics. The provider should make it possible to monitor students’ growth and confirm the results of intervention and assistance at crucial moments in the academic year.
This is anticipated to assist in creating a baseline of children’s cognitive potential and accomplishments throughout time and to facilitate any necessary learning changes.
At Gems World Academy in Dubai, Peter Bonner, assistant principal of the primary division, stated: “Tests must be a computer-adaptive assertion, and results should show each pupil’s reading age in comparison to grade/age expectations, as well as a Standard Age Score (SAS) to ease comparison of data.
“Generally speaking, while sharing reading capability results with parents is not required, it is generally done as a matter of effective practice so that transparency is maintained and so that disciple’s next steps are easily outlined for teachers, parents, and classmates,” says a reading expert. “They should allow for a comprehensive analysis of the collected data, that is then utilized to value and importance of individual learners’ needs and how this drive approaches with all students.”
