The Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (Minerd) informs the educational community and families that National Tests 2022 They will be applied from July 12 to 15 for the last grade of the secondary level, and on days 16, 17, 23 and 24 for the Subsystem of Youth and Adults, as established in the school calendar.
The National Tests are standardized tests that assess, according to the resumethe learning developed in the areas of Spanish Language, Mathematics, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, at the end of the secondary level in all its modalities and the middle and basic level of Education for Young People and Adults. They have a certification nature because they are worth 30% of the student’s final grade for promotion, the remaining 70% is the average grade sent by the educational center.
The National Tests are established in the General Education Law number 66-97 and are currently regulated by ordinance 1-2016. They fulfill a double function: Serve as a mechanism for objective and automated certification and report on student performance as an indicator of the quality of the education system.
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Its application was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the covid 19 pandemic, which forced the closure of educational centers and the implementation of the Distance Education modality. Now in the year 2022, the situation of the pandemic has improved and when returning to face-to-face classes, the regulations are resumed.
The context of the pandemic forced all countries to prioritize and adapt the curriculum to adapt to a modality of Long distance education, with the limitations that it implied. In fact, the pandemic has served as an opportunity to initiate processes of revision curriculum, in order to prioritize the most relevant and pertinent learning for life.
The Ministry added that these tests have their design unchanged, always based on the current curriculum, in this case adjusted to the curricular prioritization established in the 2020-2021 school year. The tests are curricular, that is, they assess what is established in the national curriculum that is currently in transition. The tests, to be fair and objective, can only evaluate the contents that were addressed in the development of the school year because they were prioritized.
In addition, the Minerd details, they will be carried out with all the technical and methodological rigor, maintaining comparability in their design with those of previous years. The adjustments, consistent with the prioritized curriculum, have been minor; a few contents or their weight (number of questions) in the test have simply been reduced, always keeping the essential. Work is being done to gradually assume an evaluation by competencies.
Taking into account the reality of recent years and the right that every student has to know what they will be evaluated on, the strategy of Familiarization with the 2022 National Tests has been designed, so that the educational community is informed and supports students. students in their preparation process. To do this, a teacher guidance document, presentations with the settings for each area, practice booklets and informative videos were posted on the Ministry of Education website. Having resources and tools is desirable to collaborate and support educational centers. The purpose of the strategy is to motivate study, effort and reinforcement of learning.
Evaluating is important to obtain information with which to make well-informed decisions to improve the quality of education. The results of the 2022 National Tests will serve to know what has been achieved, analyze plans and programs and adopt measures in the continuous effort to raise the quality of Dominican education. Everyone’s commitment and support is required to develop an evaluation culture that allows monitoring and working together for constant improvement.
