Foreword

This review was undertaken in partnership by the OECD and UNICEF in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth in Albania. It builds on the collaboration between the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills and UNICEF, benefitting from our organisations’ complementary experience and expertise. The review provides an analysis that is grounded in the context of educational evaluation and assessment in Albania, while drawing on international research and best practice from around the world.

Albania has made progress in expanding access to education and improving learning outcomes. However, a large share of students in Albania continue to struggle with mastering basic competencies needed for work and life, and student characteristics such as ethnic and linguistic background continue to influence educational outcomes. Albania’s educational assessment and evaluation systems require strong and strategic reforms to improve quality and equity and ensure all students are prepared to participate fully and thrive in a knowledge-based society.

This review offers recommendations to help Albania capitalise on promising policies and practices that are already in place. The proposals place student learning at the heart of educational evaluation and assessment. This means that recommendations on student assessment, teacher appraisal, and school and system evaluation are oriented toward the ultimate aim of helping students learn.

Above all, we hope that this review will be a useful reference for Albania as it reforms its educational evaluation and assessment systems. This review comes at an important moment for Albania as it develops its next national education strategy. The review discusses many of the policy options that the country is considering and provides guidance that can be used to inform decision-making. We hope that the review’s recommendations contribute to the development of an education system that provides excellence for all.

Andreas Schleicher

Roberto De Bernardi

UNICEF Representative Albania