- The workshop aimed to share and discuss the findings of the center with a number of practitioners and researchers specialized in mathematics
RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Abdullah Al-Mashari, chairman of the Education Evaluation Commission, has highlighted the importance of participating in international tests to standardize education in line with the rest of the world.
He said that national tests give a more accurate evaluation of the reality of teaching and learning that are both important to determine strengths and weaknesses in the content of curricula and educational practices and work on improving them.
In his opening remarks at the workshop — organized by the commission in cooperation with the World Bank — titled “Discussing the improvement of the teaching and learning of mathematics in primary school curricula in the Kingdom using the results of international TIMMS 2015 ... International studies in mathematics and science approach,” he said that it was important to take advantage of national and international evaluation results to improve and advance in education.
The Research, Improvement and Innovation Center of the authority, in collaboration with the World Bank, has analyzed the results of the tests, identified the problems that led to poor results, and reached the recommendations needed to improve the performance of Saudi students in the future.
Mathematics
The workshop aimed to share and discuss the findings of the center with a number of practitioners and researchers specialized in mathematics.
Prince Faisal said that the workshop is part of the center’s plan and its main activities in analyzing the performance of Saudi students in international standard studies and tests, publishing results to stakeholders, and raising awareness of the most important issues of education and training in the Kingdom to contribute to raising the quality of education.
Dr. Jarallah Saleh Al-Ghamdi, general supervisor at the authority’s center, said that the study aims to identify the specific aspects of education related to the achievement of mathematics students and provide examples of means to benefit policymakers and educational institutions on the evaluation information. The study also provides information on students’ achievement in mathematics (grade 4) as a result of the TIMMS test conducted in 2015.
The international expert and principal researcher of the study, Dr. Jerry Shill, analyzed the results of the grade 4 students in the TIMMS 2015 test, explaining that the level is low compared to many countries participating in the test. He reviewed some examples of test questions and presented different statistics on the results. He pointed out that better results require time, planning, good organization and hard work.