Malini lives in the district of Nuh in Haryana in India. She is currently enrolled in eighth grade and has been using her father’s phone for an hour a few times a week to study since schools closed due to the pandemic. She uses that time to watch videos, study worksheets, and take tests sent by her teachers on WhatsApp. Several of these tests are part of her school’s large-scale assessments strategy to measure and improve learning.

Malini especially enjoys math assessments, but this was not always the case. She remembers how up until grade five, her preparation for math tests involved spending several days of memorizing answers to practice questions. However, after the announcement of Saksham Ghoshna (Haryana’s statewide student assessment program) in 2018, her teachers started competency-linked assessments that focused less on rote learning.

Malini and Gulshan give a glimpse of how scientifically designed and competency-linked large-scale assessments can positively impact classroom instruction. However, the role of assessments in improving education quality doesn’t end there. Over the last seven years, we have partnered with four Indian states and several leading assessment organizations — ConveGenius Insights, Centre for Science of Student Learning, and Educational Initiatives — to design and implement assessments.

Together, we have identified key characteristics of both a high-quality test instrument and a system that enables the implementation of an effective large-scale assessment. Our work in Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh taught us that these five drivers lead to a successful large-scale assessment system:

  • Setting clear policy and objectives
  • Creating systems for strong governance
  • Enabling resources
  • Building technical capacity
  • Using data insights

These drivers form a framework that can help states assess their current preparedness for conducting a high-quality large-scale assessment.

Read the full article about large-scale assessments in education in India by Prachi Windlass and Sharvi Dublish at the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.