REBUILDING
EDUCATION

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Universiteit Leiden

Redesigning the Assessment system of Secondary Schools in the NetherlandsLet’s Add Some Colour

Anna Matsi
Juliette J. L. Bout
Aaron A. C. Jacobs

Abstract

The problem we are trying to solve with our redesign is changing the traditional culture of performance and grading. In our redesign there are three stakeholders we are trying to solve this problem for. First we have the parents of the students, they are measuring the amount of learning goals their children have achieved. Second we have the students who compare their learning goals to other students. Our final stakeholders are the teachers. As a result of the needs of the parents and students teachers unconsciously started to communicate in their old patterns.

Combining these different problems and perspectives we thought about an alternative grading system.  We made a system in which we did not want to use any numbers, so no grading and not given them percentages, but a more fun way of showing them how they perform. The redesign we made shows the parents and teachers the progression of a student in different colors.

In this redesign we provide in the need of the parents to know how their children progress. We give the teachers a way of showing the students and parents a clear image of how well they are doing and progress. For the students we take away the comparing element by using colors.

Redesign

References

Dahlin, B., & Watkins, D. (2000). The role of repetition in the processes of memorising and understanding: a comparison of the views of German and Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. The British Journal of Educational Psychology70 ( Pt 1), 65–84.

Heissel, J., Adam, E., Doleac, J., Figlio, D., Meer, J., & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2018). Testing, stress, and performance : How students respond physiologically to high- stakes testing (Nber working paper series, no. 25305). Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of   Economic Research. (2018). Retrieved November 2, 2019

Hope, M., (2019). Reclaiming Freedom in Education. Routledge: New York.

OECD (2012), Grade Expectations: How Marks and Education Policies Shape Students’ Ambitions, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi-org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/10.1787/9789264187528-en.