The results of the 2024 National Assessment exam were published on the website of the Ministry of Education and they come with a very unpleasant surprise: they are the weakest in recent years. And the teachers I spoke with also have some explanations.
National Assessment scores, the lowest in recent years. Photo source: archive
“Whoever got a 10 really knows math!”
In Mathematics, according to the figures sent by the Ministry of Education, 105,122 students (68.7%) received marks greater than or equal to 5. As a comparison, last year we had 75.4%, and two years ago 77.5 % of students achieved passing grades. As for the 10 marks, only 1060 children achieved this feat.
Denisa Tănăsescu, mathematics teacher at the “ILCaragiale” National College in Bucharest, stated for “Adevărul” that the mathematics subjects were quite difficult. It is also the reason why we have such a high percentage of children with grades equal to or higher than 5. “The weak students, who did not study for this exam, the children who go mainly to vocational schools, I don’t think they even got grade 5. I don’t think they fall into that 68% percentage. The subjects were not at all comfortable, especially for them. They discouraged them from the start”, the teacher stated. “Plane geometry subjects were a little more delicate. In the two hours you had to see from the first how you get those triangles, the ratios, you had to be direct on the subject, to know the solution from the start. The children didn’t have time to think too much.”
As for the 10 marks in Mathematics, the teacher believes that the number of students who got the maximum mark is reasonable. “The number of counties we have in the country is neither very small nor very large. The 10th grade children in mathematics are very good children, who have worked hard, who have dedicated themselves to this exam. Children who worked. Hard-working children with the necessary intelligence, with developed geometric reasoning. Developed. Whoever got a 10 in this exam really knows math.”
Prof. Denisa Tănăsescu is of the opinion that such low marks this year are the results of a difficult exam in Mathematics, more difficult than what the students received in Simulation.
“Children don’t understand simple ideas. I can’t tell the difference between a dog and a boy”
Poor results were also recorded in the Romanian language. Minister Ligia Deca announced today that in the Romanian language and literature exam, 119,088 students – 77.6% – obtained grades greater than or equal to 5, and 407 students were graded 10. “Disappointing! Given how accessible the subjects were, it is not possible for the students to go wrong with the way they did it”,commented Ruxandra Achim, Romanian Language teacher at the “IL Caragiale” National College” from Bucharest. “There were low grades for very easy subjects, but many students had never read anything in their lives. Many did not understand the text, although it was very simple. This tells us that the students are doing very poorly in the literacy section. The text received from Constantin Chiriță was not a metaphorical literary text, difficult to understand, with who knows what substrates. That’s where the action is. They are simple, clear things. But children no longer understand minimal, basic things. In fact, we are working less and less on this part of the text”.
This year’s poor results have nothing to do with the digitized assessment, the teacher believes. “I don’t even want to think about the results these children will have at the Baccalaureate in 4 years. They do not understand standard texts. “The Cherry Trees”, for example, is a reading that my generation did in third grade when I was 9 years old. They, at 14 years old, can’t handle it! I don’t understand the difference between a dog and a boy! It’s embarrassing! I didn’t expect such a disaster.”
Romanian language teacher Ruxandra Achim is of the opinion that parents should be more involved in children’s education. “To spend more time with them, tell them stories, make them learn, help them, support them when needed. Today’s generation is the TikTok generation. And the children ended up not being able to think anymore. This thing scares me!”
In the Romanian language, 407 students from the whole country got grade 10. “We are talking about a fair number of children, because we cannot have inflation of maximum grades. It seems fair to me how the exam was. I corrected the Evaluation. And I gave a single 10 out of 74 papers. Of these 74 papers, about ten were between 9 and 9.90, the rest below nine. And many below grade 5”, the teacher also stated.
Minister Ligia Deca claims that the results of the National Assessment and the subjects of this exam cannot be compared from one year to another. For such comparisons, she stated in the press conference held on Wednesday, standardized evaluations are needed. “Where we are, in our context today, the assessment provides testing of the average level of skill attainment for secondary school students, but we cannot make comparisons between generations. It is a purely scientific matter, of research, which, by the way, I have seen emphasized in the press repeatedly”, said Ligia Deca.
