Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science
The MSES prescribes methods of monitoring and evaluation to measure the quality of all components of the national curriculum. The National Center for External Evaluation of Education (NCEEE) is responsible for external evaluation within the Croatian education and training system, as well as conducting examinations based on national standards.19
The NCEEE conducts national examinations and delivers the results to schools. It encourages schools to conduct self-evaluation by providing assistance and support in the form of materials, advice, and training in external evaluation and self-evaluation.
The state Matura is a group of examinations administered in the same way and at the same time for all students, thus making comparative results possible at the national level. Students at comprehensive schools who are completing their secondary education take the state Matura examination. The content, conditions, manner, and procedure for taking the state Matura are stipulated in the Law on Education and Training in Primary and Secondary Schools (Official Gazette No. 87/2008) and the Regulations on Taking State Matura (Official Gazette No. 97/2008). The state Matura consists of a set of three subject examinations, each comprising two parts—mandatory and optional. All students must take examinations in mathematics, Croatian language, and foreign language (from elementary through advanced levels). According to the Regulations on State Matura Examinations (Pravilnik o državnoj maturi, Official Gazette No. 127/2010), students concurrently educated in an ethnic minority language and in Croatian must take an examination in the ethnic minority language; for the third mandatory subject examination, these students choose between mathematics and foreign language. Vocational and four year art program students, who complete their secondary education by preparing and defending final projects as organized and implemented by their secondary school, also may take the state Matura examinations, should they wish to continue with higher education. Regulations on taking the state Matura are applicable to students enrolled in the first grade of a comprehensive school or four year vocational and art school.
The Regulatory Act on the Methods, Procedures, and Elements of Evaluation of Students in Primary and Secondary Schools (Pravilnik o načinima, postupcima i elementima vrednovanja učenika u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi) provides guidelines on the use of grades and evaluation criteria.20
Student achievement is monitored and evaluated throughout the school year. In Grades 1 to 4, examinations are administered about one month after the end of each unit. The frequency of written and oral tests, as well as the evaluation of homework, depends upon individual teachers. Teachers evaluate student achievement and behavior, grading student performance in subjects numerically and grading student behavior descriptively. School grades comprise numerical marks with accompanying descriptors on the following scale: 1–insufficient, 2–sufficient, 3–good, 4–very good, and 5–excellent. The descriptive grades for student conduct are exemplary, good, and bad. In the first four years of primary school, grades are given numerically, accompanied by a clear written explanation. At the primary level, narrative descriptions of success or failure are easier to understand than abstract numeric grades.