According to Arka news agency, the Minister of Educaton and Science Mr. Spartak Seyranian and his deputy Mr. Bagrat Yesayan are satisfied with the standardized format in which the secondary school exams took place this year. Four subjects at terminal year, compared to only 1 subject last year, were tested in this format. It is expected that the exams of the remaining subjects will also be standardized next year.
The standardized exams are administered and scored under uniform conditions and as a consequence raise the transparency and the reliability of the assessment. All students in the terminal year across the country take the same test, correctors are selected randomly, and students remain anonymous to correctors. These reduce substantially the opportunities for corruption.
The standardized test format was introduced in Armenia in 2007, 6 years after Russia. It has been in use in neigboring countries such as Iran and Tukey for several decades. Last year, the exam of only one subject, Armenian Language and Literature, was administered in this format. As this was deemed successful, the exams of 3 additional subjects were standardized this year: Russian Language, Mathematics, and Foreign Languages (English, German, French and Spanish). Among foreign languages, English seems to confirm its dominante position; it was the language of choice for around 75% of students.
Interesthingly, although the Article 12 of the Constitution clearly declares Armenian as the country’s only official language, the Minsitry of Education and Science (MES) maintains its own classificiation according to which there are 3 language categories: Armenian, Russian and foreign. In other words, the MES beuraucracy does not consider Russian as a foreingn language. Is this because Russians are friends and friends cannot be foreigners, or foreigners cannot be friends, or…?
The standardized exams are administered and scored under uniform conditions and as a consequence raise the transparency and the reliability of the assessment. All students in the terminal year across the country take the same test, correctors are selected randomly, and students remain anonymous to correctors. These reduce substantially the opportunities for corruption.
The standardized test format was introduced in Armenia in 2007, 6 years after Russia. It has been in use in neigboring countries such as Iran and Tukey for several decades. Last year, the exam of only one subject, Armenian Language and Literature, was administered in this format. As this was deemed successful, the exams of 3 additional subjects were standardized this year: Russian Language, Mathematics, and Foreign Languages (English, German, French and Spanish). Among foreign languages, English seems to confirm its dominante position; it was the language of choice for around 75% of students.
Interesthingly, although the Article 12 of the Constitution clearly declares Armenian as the country’s only official language, the Minsitry of Education and Science (MES) maintains its own classificiation according to which there are 3 language categories: Armenian, Russian and foreign. In other words, the MES beuraucracy does not consider Russian as a foreingn language. Is this because Russians are friends and friends cannot be foreigners, or foreigners cannot be friends, or…?
