Who is going to design the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment and who is going to grade the tests?

The design of the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment program was a joint effort between the Evaluation Institute, in particular its Student Assessment Office, and RAND, a firm internationally recognized for its work in education reform. The tests themselves are being developed by the Educational Testing Service and CTB-McGraw Hill, two firms with international experience in test development.

Throughout the test development process, these companies worked closely with Evaluation Institute specialists in educational assessment as well as professionals with Arabic and/or Qatari-specific backgrounds. They also coordinated their work with CfBT, the firm in charge of developing the curriculum and performance standards.

The multiple choice tests will be graded using computer-scanning technology. Essay questions will be graded by qualified panels of local educators. State-of-the-art tools for item and test quality control will be used to ensure the validity, objectivity and reliability of the measurements.