Inclusion and education

INCLUSIVE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS 
SHOULD INCLUDE ALL LEARNERS
Information from learning assessments is critical to guide 
teaching for all students. Yet summative assessments, 
which generate feedback only after a course of study 
is complete, tend to prevail in national frameworks and 
serve as a basis for important decisions on student 
certification and placement, whether in segregated or 
inclusive settings. Summative assessments provide 
little information on how teaching should be adapted or 
modified to help learners with special education needs 
to progress and achieve. When used for accountability 
purposes, these high-stakes assessments can lead to 
negative practices such as selective admission, strict 
discipline policies, student reassignment, and greater 
focus and time given to those most likely to succeed. 
According to head teacher reports from countries taking 
part in the 2015 Organization for Economic Co-operation 
and Development Programme for International Student 
Assessment, 38% of tested students were in schools 
where academic performance was an important 
determinant of admission. In Bulgaria and Croatia, more 
than 8 in 10 schools used performance as a criterion 
(OECD, 2016).
Yet, while exclusionary practices are a common result of 
assessments, assessment and inclusion need not be seen 
in opposition. To support inclusive education, assessment 
systems need to abide by principles that ‘promote the 
learning of all pupils as far as possible’ (European Agency, 
2007, p. 47). First, all students’ learning progress and 
achievement should be identified and valued, and all 
students should have the opportunity to demonstrate 
their progress and achievement. Second, assessment 
procedures should be complementary, coherent with the 
goal of supporting learning and teaching, and coordinated, 
avoiding segregation through labelling. Third, students 
should be entitled to reliable and valid assessment 
procedures that accommodate and, where possible, 
are modified to meet their needs (European Agency for 
Development in Special Needs Education, 2007, 2008).
The importance of a balanced assessment system is 
increasingly recognized in the region. In Kyrgyzstan, 
a formative assessment system is scheduled for 
introduction. Teachers in Lithuania are encouraged to 
provide feedback and use other formative assessment 
methods that support each student’s development. 
Research in North Macedonia showed that formative 
assessment, with a focus on ongoing monitoring, had 
the biggest influence on improving outcomes of students 
with learning difficulties (Aleksovska et al., 2015).
An OECD review of Serbia
recommended a move away 
from reproducing facts in school graduation examinations 
and towards a wider range of transversal competences 
and levels of achievement (Maghnouj et al., 2020). In 
Tajikistan, the Ministry of Education and Science, with 
international support, is developing guidance on the use 
of formative assessment in classrooms.
Out of the 30 education systems reviewed, 27 reported 
having a national assessment framework for all learners 
to specify procedures guiding data collection and use.
In most countries, such frameworks operate at the 
national level and are described in laws, regulations or 
even the national curriculum, as in Estonia and Georgia.
A few countries regulate the assessment framework at 
local level. In Lithuania, for example, schools develop their 
own student assessment procedures, approved by the 
head teacher, and publish them on the school website.
In Poland, each school adopts its own assessment 
system, guided by national legislation. However, this 
process is not always straightforward. Latvia and Slovenia, 
for instance, reported that enhancing evaluation and 
assessment tools aligned with education goals so as to 
improve student outcomes was challenging and that 
assessment data were used mainly to make decisions 
about student retention or promotion.
Countries whose assessment frameworks differentiate 
learners with special needs essentially refer only to 
learners with disabilities. Few countries’ curriculum-
based assessment guidelines cover a wider range of 
learners. In Belarus, assessment guidelines state that 
ethnic minority or immigrant learners not proficient 
in Belarusian or Russian may be exempt from grading 
in the corresponding language classes for up to two 
years. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, guidelines refer to 
gender, ethnicity, language, culture and special needs; in 
Hungary, to socio-cultural background; and in the Russian 
Federation, to immigrant and bilingual children.
High-stakes assessments can lead to negative practices such as selective 
admission, strict discipline policies, student reassignment, and greater focus 
and time given to those most likely to succeed
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While assessment frameworks should support ethnic 
minority learners’ needs, some countries’ frameworks 
do not always meet those needs, especially with respect 
to high-stakes examinations. They may in fact act as a 
barrier to demonstrating learning achievement at the end 
of school and for gaining access to tertiary education. This 
is a challenge for students of Uighur- and Uzbek-language 
schools in Kazakhstan and for most students educated in 
languages other than Russian in the Russian Federation.
In the case of learners with disabilities, two approaches 
can be distinguished. In some countries, such as Armenia, 
teams of professionals, including special teachers and 
therapists, assess learners with disabilities in accordance 
with their individualized education plan, while all other 
learners’ assessments are based on general procedures. 
Other countries have general assessment procedures 
that apply to all learners, but are adjusted and modified 
for learners with disabilities. In Kazakhstan, learners 
with disabilities are assessed using the same criteria 
and indicators as other children but adaptations take 
into account needs and limitations imposed by a 
range of impairments. Teachers set learning targets 
for assessment of learners with disabilities as part of a 
differentiated and individualized teaching approach that 
combines a common and special education curriculum.
Most countries have guidance documents on assessment. 
Azerbaijan approved new guidelines for school-based 
assessment in 2018, although they do not refer to 
special education needs. Croatia has an Ordinance on the 
Methods, Procedures and Elements of the Evaluation 
of Primary and Secondary Schools and special provision 
for evaluating achievement of students with disabilities. 
Serbia has a rulebook with guidelines on exercising the 
right to an individualized education plan. In Uzbekistan, 
guidebooks developed in compliance with the State 
Educational Standard provide guidelines to teachers on 
conducting learner assessment. Countries without formal 
guidance for teachers use other approaches. Mongolia has 
trained teachers in a few provinces on general assessment 
and the new assessment regulations. Turkey, as part 
of its Education Vision 2023, will implement a School 
Development Model and a Learning Analytics Platform.
Countries offer various accommodations to 
learners with disabilities in examinations
Assessment methods should meet all learners’ needs. 
In the case of learners with disabilities, reasonable 
accommodations may be needed to ensure these learners 
can be assessed without lowering expectations (Yaoying, 
2013). Accommodations take various forms. They may 
be made to testing equipment and technology (
Box 5.5
). 
Specific examination materials and tests for learners with 
disabilities are prepared in the Czech Republic, Mongolia, 
North Macedonia, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and 
Ukraine. In Montenegro, individual adjustments are made 
for each examination. Depending on type and degree 
of disability, students are exempted from parts of the 
examination they cannot take.
Additional time may be given to students with disabilities, 
ranging from 30 minutes in Hungary to one hour in 
Azerbaijan. In Kazakhstan, students with disabilities 
have longer break times. Setting accommodations are 
also made. Bulgaria provides an independent room with 
a personal development support team. Ukraine offers 
a room with a nurse, ramps, an accessible toilet and an 
accessible table. Examination facilities with accessibility 
features are also available in Montenegro.
Test procedure accommodations are common. Students 
with severe oral communication difficulties can take 
written instead of oral examinations in Croatia, Georgia, 
Mongolia, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and 
the Russian Federation. In Hungary, students with severe 
writing difficulties can take an oral examination or choose 
another subject to be assessed on in the secondary 
school leaving examination.
Teacher consultants and additional teaching staff are 
often made available. Assistants write down student 
answers in Bulgaria, specialists interpret in sign language 
in Kazakhstan, administrators and assessment centre 
staff provide support in Lithuania, and an external 
person is permitted to enter and leave the examination 
auditorium to provide support in Ukraine.
Some countries lack national guidelines on assisting 
assessment of learners with special education needs. In 
Belarus, children with learning difficulties who study in 
mainstream schools are assessed according to the regular 
norms. In Latvia, all learners with disabilities except 
those with intellectual disabilities follow the general 
education curriculum based on the National Standard 
of Basic Education, which means they must take tests 
and examinations like their peers without disabilities. In 
Uzbekistan, school graduation examinations are waived 
for learners with disabilities upon a medical commission 
recommendation. Learners who do not pass graduation 
Specific examination materials and tests 
for learners with disabilities are prepared 
in the Czech Republic, Mongolia, North 
Macedonia, the Russian Federation, 
Slovakia and Ukraine
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examinations in some subjects may repeat them in the 
following two months or sit a different examination. 
A 2% quota in university admissions for people with 
disabilities was introduced in 2018 (Yusupov, 2019).