Algoritmos evolutivos multiobjetivo

a. Strong experience in Public–Private Partnership

The concept of public–private partnership (PPP) is not new in Bangladesh. The

introduction of a 1-year preschool class for children 5 years old and above in government primary schools was first witnessed as a PPP effort in 1997.45 _{Under an informal agreement}

between the Government of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), BRAC opened and operated 1-year preschool classes in all government primary schools, and these classes are now part of all primary schools. The government has also implemented a good number of training programs for teachers and a research project partnership with the Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka. With a record of collaboration with the private sector in education, the

government may explore the possibility of using a PPP for assessment. Leading universities in Bangladesh can provide research support and technical advice to concerned government agencies in the absence of a special government institution for learning assessment, education evaluation, and research.

Bangladesh introduced national assessments in primary education in grades 3 and 5 in 2006. National assessment was started in 2015 at the secondary level in the country. The DSHE conducted two quasi-national assessments in secondary education in 2012 and 2013.46 _{In preparing tests, analyzing test scores, and preparing reports for national}

assessments, technical assistance is being provided by experts from ACER. In Bangladesh, local professionals are not yet capable of handling national assessments due to the shortage of expertise in this particular area.

Therefore, DPE and DSHE should take immediate action to work under a PPP arrangement with appropriate institutions in the area of ASLO and for the staff capacity development in monitoring and evaluation. The prospective areas of collaboration may be development of learning assessment tests, a training manual for teachers, a handbook on preparing learning achievement tests, scales for measuring affective behavior of students, classical and modern techniques (i.e., item response theory) of test-score analysis, and report writing and providing training to schoolteachers.

44 _{Footnote 35, p. 20.}

45 _{Dorpan. 2012. Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Primary School Management Guide. Dhaka.}

p.  1.

46 _{DSHE conducted student assessment in only 309 secondary schools in 31 sample upazilas selected out of}

122 upazilas of the Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project. There are 492 upazilas in Bangladesh.

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b. Availability of information and Communication technology for use in education

Catering to the education needs of about 17 million primary and 751,000 secondary school children and to the continuous professional development of about 619,000 teachers through traditional means requires a huge amount of resources—time, human, and financial. However, with the right technology, it can be done more efficiently and probably more cost-effectively. The average number of teachers per school is 23.0 in government schools and 11.9 in nongovernment schools. The teacher–student ratio is 30.3:1 in government schools and 35.6:1 in nongovernment schools.

Most of the secondary schools (government and nongovernment) have been provided with computers and other accessories by the government. Many primary schools where electricity is available have also received computers from the government. It is expected that, within a short time, the rest of the primary schools will have computers. It is necessary to supply at least five computers to each school and to provide computer operation training to the teachers.

c. Standards-Based versus Standardized testing

The schoolteachers of Bangladesh are well aware of the principles and practices of designing question papers and objective tests, and they have been using those tests to measure students’ knowledge and skills and determine their academic progress over time. However, the teachers have limited knowledge and skills in preparing and using different kinds of test tools (especially means standardized and criterion-referenced tests across different subjects) due to the lack of adequate training and experience in testing and evaluation. Standards-based testing, standardized testing, and criterion-referenced testing are among the most important ones. In this subsection, the discussion on the test tools will remain confined to standards-based versus standardized testing.

(i) Standardized testing. Many educated parents and students aspiring to study abroad, especially in the United States, are familiar with standardized tests such as IQ, CAT 5, ILTS, GRE, SAT, etc. A standardized test is one in which a student’s performance is measured in comparison with that of everyone else who took the test. The validity and reliability of standardized tests are established statistically. Bangladesh is using standardized tests only in conducting national assessments in primary education. The NAC, in cooperation with NCTB, is preparing the standardized tests and conducting national assessments in grades 3 and 5 with the technical assistance of ACER, India. ACER also analyzes data and prepares assessment reports.

(ii) Standards-based testing. Standards-based testing compares student performance against a set of standards, rather than with other students as in norm-referenced testing. It encourages linking assessment to curriculum.47 _The

criteria and information are taken directly from the content that a student has been taught or expected to learn. Standards-based testing is particularly helpful when a school district or state education body defines learning standards that each student and school need to achieve. The test can then measure not only student learning achievement but also teacher effectiveness.

Standards-based testing is suitable for schools for developing their own

assessment system and accordingly improving school performance. The present primary and secondary curricula of Bangladesh are competency based.

The content of curricula for all subjects has been selected based on learning outcomes derived from subject-wise terminal and grade-wise attainable competencies, and the content of each subject has been aligned with learning outcomes derived from attainable competencies as shown in the curriculum report. The primary schoolteachers have been working with this curriculum since 2003. Keeping the learning outcomes in view, the teachers can easily prepare standards-based tests in all subjects and use them for student assessment. Hence, it may not be a problem for primary schoolteachers to design and use standards-based tests for SBA. It only needs initiatives from the schools and government.

The present secondary school curriculum (introduced in the 2013 school year) is the first competency-based curriculum for secondary schools in Bangladesh. It may take some time for the teachers to become familiar with and use the curriculum. NCTB has a plan to train all secondary schoolteachers in Bangladesh to enable them to use the curriculum in the classroom, and also to design and use standards-based tests for assessing student learning outcomes.