The Dutch National Education Institute
On 12 July 2021, Memorandum of Understanding was signed between SEC and CITO to enhance the institutional development in the field of educational assessment.
In accordance with the Memorandum, SEC and CITO agreed to collaborate on the following:
1. To realize the learning and development initiatives in the fields such as educational assessment, organization of computer-based examinations, psychometric testing, competence-based assessment, student tracking systems;
2. To implement the joint partnership programs that support the training and development of assessment specialists and mentors in education, and the quality assurance mechanisms during testing;
3. To increase the joint regional initiatives in the field of educational assessment in Azerbaijan and the Eurasia region;
4. To regularly share the data related to collaboration in educational assessment, as well as new initiatives creating an added value.
Collaboration between CITO and SEC is the continuation of the activities of the State Student Admission Commission, the predecessor of SEC. Thus, the SSAC had created a close relations with leading international organizations in the field of assessment, as well as the CITO, in order to study the advanced, constructive and progressive criteria and standards in the world practice for assessment of knowledge and skills and use them creatively, to choose more effective and optimal ones and apply them by due regard to existing development path of the country.
In September 2009, a working group consisting of SSAC employees from the units Test development and Test development for Master’s paid a visit to the Netherlands to meet the CITO representatives. During the meeting, the sides conducted discussions and exchange of experience on the following:
- Item Response Theory (IRT) and its application;
- adaptive testing;
- computer-based testing (multimedia, simulation);
- the Dutch education system;
- monitoring at the secondary education level;
- item bank system.
The participation of delegation led by Maleyka Abbaszadeh, Chairperson of SEC Board of Directors, in the 19th annual AEA-Europe meeting held by CITO in Arnhem and Nijmegen, the Netherlands, on 7-10 November 2018 launched the new cooperation relations and even the SEC was a partner organization of that conference.
During the 45th annual conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA 2019) organized by the SEC on 22-27 September 2019, Nico Dieteren, representative of CITO, conducted a practical workshop on the topic "Organization of trainings to achieve sustainable transformation in education and assessment in accordance with the functional literacy of 21st century."
Following the IAEA 2019 conference, SEC and CITO regularly discuss the support on the development of PISA-type tasks and the enhancement of skills and standards for the assessment of those tasks. In 2021, the training modules have been developed for professional progress of specialists in the said directions and it is intended to conduct the trainings in the near future with the support of the Minister of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The draft project was proposed in accordance with the "Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities on Socio-Economic Development" approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 2 February 2021. Within the provisions stipulated in the Decree, the ongoing modernization in the education system should be continued, content reforms should be deepened, and the integrative teaching practice should be enhanced in order to strengthen the general education which is the guarantor of the development of society. In this regard, the further improvement of country’s position in international assessments (PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS, ICILS) should be achieved.