Entrance assessment as part of the admission process
In a selective school, testing consists of more specific subject-related tasks such as solving mathematical equations and academic tasks linked to the school’s specialism.
In a non-selective school, in addition to subject knowledge tests, the following may be used:
- Tests of cognitive abilities
- Tests of logical thinking
- Assessment of psychological readiness, which is particularly relevant for children entering the first grade. They may have sufficient knowledge and abilities, but they may not be psychologically ready and unable to handle the academic workload.
- Neuropsychological testing
- Interviews with teachers or the principal
- Values interviews, which are important for some schools to align with parents on core values and moral beliefs.
- Open-ended questionnaires.
These diverse methods help schools to more fully assess the potential and preparedness of students and determine what support and resources they may require.
The school can choose any type of testing, but for a comprehensive understanding of the child's abilities, it is better to combine several types, depending on what the school offers.. For example, this could be a combination of neuropsychological testing, interviews, and subject-specific knowledge assessments.
Who should be involved in the process? This is the first question that the school faces. There are several possible answers. It could be an admissions specialist who both administers the test and checks the answers. However, without being a subject specialist, an admissions officer can only use pre-existing answer keys. This approach adds additional stress and includes a human factor, making it impossible to assess the details of the solution or notice if an incorrect key is being used.
Conducting entrance exams can be delegated to teachers. However, it is not appropriate to constantly take educators away from their teaching duties to ask them to grade the tests. So, what can be done? The solution lies in automation.
How can we ensure the objectivity of the data? It should be acknowledged that interviews, in most cases, involve subjective evaluations. Perhaps in the future, we will be able to train neural networks that can assess not only what the child says or writes but also the way they structure their thoughts, in order to reduce the subjectivity of the evaluation. For example, we could evaluate their formulations and vocabulary using machine learning and avoid the influence of personal factors. However, his technology does not yet exist and it remains a question for the future development of artificial intelligence and technology. 🙂
To automate entrance exams, let's consider the process step by step. Firstly, a registration link for the exams is set up on the school's website. Parents register their child, and the admissions specialist assigns the appropriate exams based on the child's age and grade level. The specialist has the ability to open or close exams and set time limits for their completion. Interviews are also scheduled in the student's profile. If the exams are conducted on an external platform (for example, assessing English language proficiency using specialized platforms), the results are also recorded in the student's profile. After completing the exams, both the parents and the school receive a report displaying all the grades, scores, results of psychological interviews, and conversations.
For selective schools, a specific minimum passing score can be set, while non-selective schools consider the results as starting data to determine the range of educational opportunities they can offer to address various educational challenges.
Automated testing is convenient, especially when there is a need for remote diagnostics. Of course, the system cannot eliminate human factors entirely, as parents may be present with their child and assist them with the tasks. However, these are inherent limitations of any remote testing, and at this stage of technological development, it is not possible to completely eliminate them.
What should be done with the test results? It is important to store information about each child in a database to analyze their developmental dynamics throughout their academic career. This could also be beneficial in the future, for example, in the event of conflicts or tensions arising, the results of psychological assessments can help identify the instigator and analyze the reasons for the tension in the classroom. It can also assist in developing strategies to create psychological comfort for all students and personalized learning trajectories.
