USETI Legacy Alliance – Quarter 10 DEC Report

Agency for International Development (USAID). The Agreement aims to build a sustainable strengthened Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment (UCEQA) capable of independently and transparently developing and implementing secure tests that meet international standards. This goal is to be achieved by securing a legislative basis for testing and higher education admission, and institutionalizing a partnership between business, higher education, and policymakers. Throughout the second quarter of Year 3, the USETI Legacy Alliance activities focused on supporting item writing, test development, and effective item banking. Technical Assistance (TA) was delivered to UCEQA item writers on how to write items assessing higher-order cognitive skills. USETI Alliance consultants also worked with UCEQA Foreign Languages specialists on item writing and review. Additionally, support was provided for scoring, scaling, and reporting of scores, as well as for effective item banking. The USETI Legacy Alliance also supported the development of a basic, high-quality test-preparation industry driven by informed consumer demand. USETI Alliance partner FAKT Publishing House's affiliated NGO continued to develop an online practice test system for the development of career website (www.timo.com.ua). Information on external testing administration and conditions on HEIs admissions was updated on the website according to MOESYS and UCEQA procedures. The International Forum on Educational Measurement was held on June 1, where discussions of IT in pedagogical testing, national admissions systems, educational measurement in Ukraine, innovation in education, and related topics were presented. The IV International Summer School "Educational measurements: teaching, research, and practice" took place from June 13-20, where major topics included educational measurements in the context of improving education quality, theoretical foundations of educational measurements, and contemporary practices in developing and administering educational tests. The USETI Legacy Alliance also participated in the activities of the Zhurovskiy Working Group on Development of the Draft Law on Higher Education. The Working Group conducted meetings working together with officials from the Ministry of Economy, Ministry Justice, and Ministry Finances of Ukraine to finalize the Zhurovskiy draft and prepare it for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers. The USETI Legacy Alliance Employer Forum was held on April 24, dedicated to the topic of "Employers and Higher Education: Problems of Legal Regulation." The Eighth USETI Alliance Partners Meeting was held on May 29, where topics discussed included a statistical analysis of the 2010-2011 admissions campaign, the methods used to evaluate test quality, and initial results of external testing monitoring. Media monitoring conducted during the reporting period revealed 3,865 articles related to external independent testing and equal access to quality higher education in Ukraine. Monitoring of the 2012 external testing was conducted by Civic Network OPORA, with 274 public observers working in 16 regions of Ukraine. The monitoring revealed that external testing was both well organized and well administered, with test site administrators and other personnel utilizing valuable experience obtained during testing in 2008-2011.