So... there are some assessments that schools can "choose" to take to see how their students are doing in comparison to other schools in their city and the national average. These exams are optional at 6th and 9th grades. Many of the schools I have been visiting chose to give the 9th gr mathematics exam (along with some other exams) last week.
The ninth grade mathematics exam is written and distributed by MAOL (Matemaattisten Aineiden Opettajien Liitto MAOL). MAOL is the national mathematics, physics, and chemistry teachers organization (kind of like NCTM and NSTA combined). MAOL also writes a detailed rubric to ensure the tests are graded consistently.
Ready for this? The mathematics teachers (who choose to give the exam) grade their own students' exams and then enter the scores anonymously into a central database. Thus, there is a national database without student names so each student, teacher, school, and city knows how they are doing in comparison to the national average.
The benefit of anonymity? There is no ranking of students or schools or cities' performance - it is just a formative baseline.
Another educational benefit - think of the educational coherence and consistency that is established when all the teachers score and report their own assessments. In addition, everyone takes the mathematics test the same day; thus, afterwards the test becomes a public document.
At the end of secondary school, students who choose to pursue college take the required national matriculation exam. I will explain how that whole process works in a subsequent post.
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