The Saber tests return for students of secondary and basic education in the country, between September and October the exams will be administered throughout the country. The basic skills tests will be carried out electronically and not in pencil and paper, thanks to the experience acquired in recent years by ICFE
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The Ministry of Education and the Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education (Icfes) announced that they will re-apply the Saber tests for grades 3, 5 and 9, after two years in which no carried out, and also will start with a new one, the 7th grade.
The application of the exams will be between September 28 and October 29 of this year. The registration process is already underway and will end on August 20.
In this way, it seeks to obtain real information on both the quality of education and the possible delays in learning arising after a year and a half of working at home in the country's schools in the framework of the pandemic.
In addition, it will collect information on socio-emotional skills and associated factors that can influence the development of learning. It should be noted that it will not be applied to all students, as is the case with the other Icfes State tests , but that it will be done at the national level in statistically selected institutions.
"These tests have had a significant evolution since 2018, when as the National Government we decided to resume them. This year they arrive renewed and with important innovations such as the inclusion of the seventh grade. They will be applied electronically and will generate fundamental information on the quality of education in the country, ”said the Minister of Education María Victoria Angulo.
And he added: "They will be standardized tests of an external nature at the national level that will be carried out periodically to a sample of students of basic primary and basic secondary education and constitute one of the essential components of the strategy to improve the quality of education in Colombia, since they allow generating relevant information on the progress as a country in educational matters and the factors that affect the academic results of students. It is our responsibility to evaluate in these moments of return to the presence ”.
One of the main novelties is the inclusion of grade 7 to these state tests, which seeks to have first-hand information about the transition of students through basic secondary education. In this way, it hopes to monitor the performance of students every two years, in order to have tools to improve the quality of education in a timely manner.
This is how Mónica Ospina, director of Icfes, explained: "It is an innovative, rigorous evaluation proposal, with future continuity. We know that it is a very important test that contributes a lot to the sector and has not been carried out for a while. A pilot was developed in 2019 and last year could not apply the test subjects pandemic.
She added: "Today, from the Icfes launched this proposal will generate information needed to measure the quality of education in the country, which will not have No cost for the selected educational establishments, it will be sampled, controlled and with the data provided, public policies will be established knowing what is happening with the process throughout the students' educational cycle. ”
Another novelty is that the tests will be applied electronically and not with pencil and paper, as had been done in previous years. This is to protect the health of the students, but also by making use of digital platforms used in the past Saber T&T and Saber Pro tests . All students will take tests in reading and math skills, and starting in fifth grade there will be natural science components and environmental education, citizenship skills and writing.
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