Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science
In primary education, assessment is considered an integral part of teaching, and aims to improve student progress, teacher effectiveness, and the curriculum itself.30 Teachers are required to adopt a systematic approach to student assessment, employing different assessment types and techniques. Students are assessed based on the extent of their class participation, their results on oral and written tests prepared by their classroom teachers, and their results on work done in the classroom and at home, including project work. There are three types of assessment administered at the primary level in Cyprus: initial or diagnostic, formative or continuous, and final or summative.31 Students do not receive grades or report cards, but are awarded a school leaving certificate at the end of the sixth grade.32
In secondary education, both formative and summative evaluations are used to assess students at the gymnasium level.33 Assessment of student learning takes the form of teacher-developed tests, observations, and homework assignments throughout the school year, as well as final examinations at the end of the year. Continuous assessment evaluations are graded on a scale from A to E, and final examinations (taken in June) are graded on a scale from 1 to 20. Summative assessment involves written examinations in four subjects—modern Greek, history, mathematics, and physics—administered internally by individual schools at the end of the school year.34 At the gymnasium level, students receive grades twice a year.35 Continuous assessment evaluations at the lyceum level are graded on a scale from 1 to 20 and supplemented by final examinations in modern Greek, mathematics, history, and physics in Grade 10, and in modern Greek, mathematics, and two elective subjects in Grades 11 and 12. Final examinations in Grades 10 and 11 are written and administered by individual schools. The Pancyprian Examinations administered at the end of secondary education (Grade 12) are prepared centrally and implemented by the Examination Department of the MoEC. The Pancyprian Examinations serve both as final school examinations and entrance examinations for the public universities in Cyprus and Greece.36