Public perception of "declining standards" in school-leaving examinations often accompanies increases in pass rates in schoolleaving examinations. "Declining standards" to the public means easier examination papers. The present study evaluates a South African attempt to estimate the level of difficulty, as distinct from…

This report looks at the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (and IGCSE/International GCSE) subjects in England in 2017. The data for these analyses was taken from the National Pupil Database (NPD). This is a database held by the Department for Education, consisting of results for all students in all subjects in schools and…

Although the results of the final examination in Indonesia were the dominant factor in determining high school graduation, the public still did not know how the examination was administered nor how results were used to determine student graduation. Despite its importance, no comprehensive studies about its implementation have been conducted. The…

The history and evolution of science assessment remains poorly known, especially in the context of the exam question contents. Here we analyze the Finnish matriculation examination in biology from the 1920s to 1960s to understand how the exam has evolved in both its knowledge content and educational form. Each question was classified according to…

The case study of the article is translanguaging as an educational strategy in preparation for the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature in a Hungarian school in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Romania. Romanian language competence scores are at the bottom of national rankings in this Hungarian-majority town in Szeklerland. Students who…

This article reflects on the epistemological steamrolling that the 2021 Ofsted Curriculum Research Review (OCRR) accomplishes: in part, by the positioning of the problem and solution through highly selective cherry-picking (omitting key causal factors); in part, through the discursive move of acknowledging complexity before offering simple and…

One of the many education reforms in Thailand is a policy aimed at improving English language proficiency among university students. One direction in this policy requires that each university administer a standardized English language test to their students before they graduate, and that the students' scores should be aligned to the Common…

One key objective of English medium instruction (EMI) programs in non-Anglophone countries is to improve students' English skills in both academic and professional environments. Despite the high cost and the popularity of the program policy, there remains a lack of empirical studies on the link between attending an EMI program and students'…

Research has demonstrated that lower school counselor ratios are associated with better student outcomes: attendance, discipline and achievement. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a student-counselor ratio of 250:1 to best support and address the needs of students. However, student-counselor ratios are much higher,…

Background: In Slovakia, no relevant information is available about the scientific literacy levels achieved by secondary school students. Purpose: The objective of the research was to identify the levels of scientific literacy among students in the last year of grammar school and examine to what extent this determined the subject chosen for a…

Secondary school-leaving English examination results are often regarded as indicators of students' competence to study in English-medium universities, which is usually demonstrated through source-based academic writing. In English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts, many English-medium universities require local undergraduates to…

Following the 1952 revolution, the Egyptian higher education system grew rapidly, with post-secondary institutes complementing the expanding university system. Private post-secondary institutes were permitted from 1970; in the early 1990s financial constraints and pressures for cost recovery prompted legislation allowing private universities. In…

The study investigated the relationship between student proficiency on The Writing Revolution (TWR) evaluative scales and student performance on the English Language Arts Regents Exam (ELA Regents Exam). The participants (n = 54) were enrolled in an 11th grade English Language Arts Regents Preparatory class in a small urban New York City High…

The authors examined the short- and long-term effects of high school exit exams (HSEEs) on graduation rates and achievement using an interrupted time series approach. There is a positive overall effect of HSEE introduction for graduation rate trends, which is heterogeneous over time. HSEEs have a negative impact on graduation rates in the year of…

The study investigated the trend of performance of students in selected Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) conducted by Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Nigeria. The study adopted an ex post facto research design to carry out the trend…