The Government and the National Association of Educators (ANDE) disagree again, this time in relation to the PISA and high school tests.
Although the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) highlighted the importance of Costa Rica participating in the implementation of PISA international tests, ANDE expressed that this type of evaluation “hampers education”.
The PISA Report measures the performance of students in more than 70 countries in Science, Mathematics and Reading. For the last report, Costa Rica deteriorated in all subjects.
That result makes us look as a deficient country, which is not necessarily due to a bad educational level, but because that is a standardized test,”
said Gilberto Cascante, secretary general of ANDE.
In addition, the association stated that they agree with the removal of baccalaureate tests.
During high school ,the students are already evaluated each quarter, and there are evaluations at the end of each term. So baccalaureate tests only re-evaluate the knowledge that students already have, “
added Cascante.
In this regard, the Ministry announced that they will not eliminate those tests applied to all students of eleventh and twelfth year, which are mandatory to obtain a degree in secondary education.