Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science

At Grades 1 to 3 at the primary level, students are promoted to the next grade automatically. A profile system is used to evaluate student achievement. Until recently, subject teachers were expected to carry out both oral and written continuous assessments throughout the year. This requirement contributed to teacher dissatisfaction with the amount of time spent testing and recording results and also was criticized by parents. As a result, the policy was changed and short examinations were introduced to determine whether children would pass or fail. At the intermediate and secondary levels, students are required to pass examinations in order to be promoted to the next grade.

At the intermediate level, the school year is divided into four periods (quarters), and standardized tests are administered at the end of the second and fourth periods at the school district level. Students are promoted to the next grade if they obtain 50 percent of the total grade in every subject. If students fail three subjects or fewer, they take a second test in these subjects at the beginning of the following year.

At the secondary level, the academic year also is divided into four periods. In the first and third periods, tests are administered at the school district level. In the second and fourth periods, national standardized tests are administered in all public and private schools in Kuwait. In 2015–2016, the school year was reduced to two periods at the secondary level.

In Grades 10 to 12, final examinations are carried out at the Ministry level. Under this system, students accumulate final examination grades based on their performance in Grade 10 (10 percent), Grade 11 (30 percent), and Grade 12 (60 percent), instead of on a single summative examination. At Grades 10 and 11, these tests are scored in schools through a system of collective correction, whereby there is a control room in each school, and students’ names are kept confidential. At Grade 12, examinations are scored at the national level, and the technical supervisors and teachers responsible for scoring gather in a central place to complete the correction process. Names of students and their schools are kept confidential (i.e., replaced by identification numbers).

Students in Kuwait have participated in three large scale studies using standardized tests:

PIRLS (2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016)—An international study that assesses reading literacy at the fourth grade
TIMSS (1995, 2007, 2011, 2015)
MESA (2012, 2013, and 2014)—A national study managed by the National Center for Education Development to assess student performance in mathematics, English, science, and Arabic