High-Stakes Exams ‘Do Little’ to Improve Education in Morocco

Rabat – High-stakes assessments in Morocco such as the national Baccalaureate exam are largely viewed as the de facto measure of a student’s future academic success. A recent publication from the World Bank suggests that these assessments only “create pressure on students,” while doing little to “measure progress towards learning goals.”

At their core, high-stake assessments reflect a larger counter-productive trend of focusing on assessing students, and not teachers or school leaders. The trend is prevalent in many Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries, the World Bank publication explains.

Converging studies document that the mental toll associated with lower performance in high-stakes examinations strongly heightens suicide tendencies among teenagers.

According to the publication, lack of effective programs to evaluate the performance of school leaders and teachers in the MENA region is a “significant hindrance” to effective education governance – how a country manages the education sector.

The MENA region’s education governance scores at the bottom globally in terms of assessing progress, ensuring accountability, and setting clear standards for learning.

Regarding accountability in education, the report maintains that it is largely “neglected in the region,” adding that there are little to no effective mechanisms for communicating results.

In addition, the countries in the region do little to conduct research-driven assessments of those responsible for education-related actions.

The lack of accountability of teachers and school leaders is especially detrimental given that, on average, 80% of the region’s education budget goes to salaries, leaving little of other necessary expenditures, the report adds.

Morocco has made moderate efforts so far toward addressing accountability in education governance. The country has independently developed school accountability initiatives, with other MENA countries like the UAE and Kuwait making similar moves.

The initiatives are in the form of school reports on performance. The premise of these reports is that by mandating schools to provide updates to school districts and parents, the stakeholders would be better incentivized to make quality decisions about the children’s schooling.

Morocco is currently using the reports to support social accountability, the report explains, adding that this approach “appears” to have consolidated school-based management, as well as motivated parents and communities to be more involved in the education process.