Monitoring Student Progress in Reading

Article 4 of the Educational Evaluation of Basic Education Law specifies the type of educational assessment as follows: formative assessment (30 percent), where the teacher applies numerous procedures that fulfill the educational status requirement to measure the various competencies, skills, values, and attitudes. This educational assessment system categorized the relative weights of the formative assessment for the Arabic language in the second and third cycles, as shown in Exhibit 6.

Exhibit 6: Weights of the Arabic Language Formative Assessment Components

Regular Classroom
Observation
Projects and Reports Quizzes Studentʼs Portfolio Total
Classroom Behavior Practical Performance Project/ Report Oral Presentation
5 5 4 2 10 4 30

As for summative assessment, the educational evaluation system for basic education specifies two types of summative assessment: initial summative assessment (20 percent) relates to the two midterm examinations, while the final summative assessment (50 percent) is related to the final examinations.

As legislated in Article 4 of the Royal Decree, the Education and Training Quality Authority is mandated to review the quality of the performance of education.13 Students in basic education are evaluated by the national examination, which is carried out by the Education and Training Quality Authority in the four core subjects (mathematics, science, Arabic, and English). This examination is administered annually at the end of each cycle (Grades 3, 6, 9, and 12) to collect information about students’ and schoolsʼ performance.