Qatar Senior School Certificate for Independent Schools

Qatar Senior School Certificate for Independent Schools Qatar Senior School Certificate (QSSC) for the 12-Graders in Independent Schools measures what students have gained and learned, through "External Tests" administered by the Evaluation Institute, and “Internal Assessment Activities” administered by the teacher under the supervision of the school, to insure constructive and comprehensive assessment.

Those two types of assessments go along together to achieve the objectives of the Secondary School Certificate program without one dominating over the other. In spite of the relative difference between the two assessments, the merging of both provides more accurate and realistic result about the student’s achievements and performance. Therefore, the QSSC program emphasizes the use of External Test as a tool for measurement without overlooking the importance of the teacher’s role in the Internal Assessment process, which is supervised by the QSSC Unit. The QSSC Unit monitors the internal activities for each school by a local team specialized in the curricula that follow the standards of the Supreme Education Council for Grade 12 externally tested subjects in independent senior schools.

Key Concepts of the Certificate
The senior certificate external test is considered a supporting test for the role of the school and not an independent test. This is due to the belief that one single test can not cover all the information and skills the student learned or acquired. This approach is based on the efficiency of the teacher and his\her ability to guide students through the academic year toward deeper and richer teaching and learning, which may enable the teachers to classify students’ educational level.

The role of the External Test is to support the assessment process in giving more realistic and accurate picture of students’ level of overall performance and what they are capable of. This is a global trend that many countries started to adopt in their educational systems to reach maximum fairness and objectivity there is in assessing students’ capacities and potential and to measure their attainment level accurately.

External Tests basically facilitate the comparison between schools, where the evaluation process reflects the teachers’ performance in teaching while school results reflect students’ performance, showing the level of effort invested in developing education in the State of Qatar through conscious practice of the initiative’s principles: Autonomy, Accountability, Diversity and Choice.

• Objectives of the Program
  • Ensure the development and continuity of educational outcomes.
  • Evaluate the performance of 12-Grade students fairly, in order to achieve objective, consistent and valid results.
  • Enhance teacher’s role in the internal assessment process in the school.
  • Form a comprehensive and integrated picture of the students’ performance and their various achievements in the secondary stage.

• Program’s Basic Principles

  • Stressing the importance of Internal Assessment in the school and the External Assessment of the Evaluation Institute of the Supreme Education Council.
  • Fairness and objectivity in the Internal and External Assessment process.
  • Promote External Assessment to teachers for enabling students of learning skills through the implementation of the best standards of students’ assessment.
  • Promoting the principles of fair competition at students’ level as well as schools’ level to achieve the best results.

• Components of the Program

  • Nature of the External Test
    • Develop External Tests in accordance with the basic curriculum standards of the eight subjects:
      1. Arabic
      2. English
      3. Mathematics
      4. Islamic Studies
      5. Biology
      6. Chemistry
      7. Physics
      8. Social Studies
    • Develop External Tests based on 12 Grade standards in the eight subjects.
    • Subject tests are administered according to the Foundation as well as Advanced level.

  • Language of the External Test
    • Tests of Mathematics and the three branches of Science will be administered in English, including Arabic translation, and the responses may be in the student’s language of choice on the English side of the test paper.

  • Types of Questions
    • The test includes Multiple Choice as well as Constructed Response questions.

  • Test Duration
    • The duration of each test is four hours.

  • Percentage of the Result
    • 30% is allocated to the Internal School Assessments and 70% to the External Test.

  • Monitoring, Follow-up and Approval of Schools’ Internal Assessments
    • A specialized team of Subject Assessment Judges (SAJs) will be in charge of monitoring and follow-up the process of Internal Assessments as well as the final examinations.
    • Accrediting school results according to the assessment criteria which are adopted by the SAJs during school visits.

  • Assessment Criteria
    • The Evaluation Institute develops and provides criteria for the Internal Assessment to the schools.
    • The Evaluation Institute also provides schools with the evaluation criteria of Students’ Additional Distinguishing Achievements.
    • Clusters and standards of the eight subjects at both the foundation and the advanced levels, which include:
      1. Islamic Studies (General)
      2. Arabic language (Foundation and Advanced)
      3. English Language (Foundation and Advanced)
      4. Mathematics (Foundation and Advanced)
      5. Biology (Foundation and Advanced)
      6. Chemistry (Foundation and Advanced)
      7. Physics (Foundation and Advanced)
      8. Social Studies (Foundation and Advanced)

• The Role of The Senior School Certificate Unit at the Evaluation Institute
  • Develop external tests for the subjects of the Certificate.
  • Promote awareness of the Certificate Program among stakeholders including schools, universities, embassies and others.
  • Form a team for supervision and coordination that includes members from the Evaluation Institute and schools.
  • Form monitoring and scoring committees.
  • Follow-up the implementation of the tasks of the committees and work teams.
  • Develop the executive manuals for the work of school committees.
  • Prepare the necessary materials for collecting information on students and schools.
  • Accredit school results.
  • Process internal and external results in preparation for the issuance of the Certificate.
  • Issue and certify the Certificate.

  School Role

  1. 1. Identify the tasks of the school’s internal coordinator according for the QSSC:
     • To be an effective link between the QSSC Unit and the school
     • To adhere to all the instructions of the QSSC Unit and regularly convey them without omissions or additions to the operator or his/her representative, given the importance of this in organizing the school for the action plan of the Secondary School Certificate examinations.
     • Adhere to absolute confidentiality of all correspondence and transactions between QSSC Unit and the school.
     • Adhere to all stipulated deadlines for submitting required tasks.
     • Facilitate the attendance of teachers and coordinators to the workshops organized and by QSSC Unit.
     • Communicate with the QSSC Unit regarding students’ special cases, such as absence with excuse or without excuse, students transfer or change of citizenship.
     • Total responsibility for all data and information through submitting paper statements, duly signed by the operator or his/her representative and stamped by the school.
     • Supervise the distribution of certificates through the school.
     • Continuously communicate with the coordinators of the various subjects of the Certificate to facilitate and steer business as desired.
  2. Administer the make-up exams for the concerned students on the school subjects, outside the scope of Evaluation Institute’s External Tests subjects.
  3. Provide the QSSC Unit with the results of the Make-Up tests for the optional subjects (maximum two subjects) in the month of May.
  4. Identify two achievements for each student, according to the decisions made by the
  5. Implement the school assessment plan.
  6. Regularly provide the Evaluation Institute with all required information and data of school and students.
  7. Regularly raise awareness of students, parents and Board of Trustees of the Secondary School Certificate program.
  8. Provide all necessary facilities to facilitate the Certificate’s process at all aspects.
  9. Regularly communicate with the QSSC Unit at the Students Assessment Office of the Evaluation Institute.
  10. Verify the accuracy of students’ names and matching them with the official documents (Passport).
• Certificate Components
  1. Certificate Format
     • Name of student and school.
     • Student's overall score in each of the eight subjects separately.
     • Optional subject (maximum two subjects).
     • Score description key.
     • Additional distinguished achievements (Only two achievements).
     • Stamp of the Supreme Education Council.
     • Stamp of the Evaluation Institute.
     • Signatures of both the Director of the Evaluation Institute and the Director of Students Assessment Office.
     • The Certificate is issued in both Arabic and English.
  2. Tests Dates
     • 1st Cluster: 20 - 29 November 2011
     • 2nd Cluster: 29 January – 7 February 2012
     • 3rd Cluster: 22 April – 1 May 2012
     • Final Exams: 27 May 2012
  3. Issuance of the Certificate
     • The certificates are dispatched to each school separately.
     • The school distributes the certificates to students.
     • For students who desire to study abroad, stress the necessity of authenticating the Certificate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as from the embassy of the respective country.
  4. Makeup Exam
     • External makeup exams are held for students with valid absence excuse as well as for students setting for remake after providing the Evaluation Institute with a proof of that excuse.
     • Students who fail in more than four subjects are not entitled to set for the remake tests.