72
teacher quality is unavailable. Jordan did not participate in the 2008 and 2013 rounds of the
Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), the OECD’s survey on the quality of
mainstream secondary school teachers and principals. While two of its neighbors, Saudi Arabia
and United Arab Emirates, have registered for the next round to be conducted in 2018, Jordan
still remains absent from TALIS.
In addition to internationally comparable data on learning outcomes, Jordan has a rich EMIS
data base which gathers detailed information on performance of schools in national assessments
(Ababneh, Imad, Lebdih, and Tweissi, 2014) such as the Tawjihi (i.e. GCSE)13. Since 2000, the
government has been also conducting these high-stakes National Test which were upgraded to
focus on critical thinking and problem solving skills from 2006 onwards. Under the National
Assessment for Knowledge Economy Skills (NAfKE) scheme, new assessment have been
designed and conducted since 2008 with a focus on skills needed for the knowledge economy
(Abdul-Hamid, Abu-Lebdeh and Patrinos 2011). This specialized national assessment (i.e.
NAfKE) was created by NCHRD. The “stakes” of various types of student assessments in Jordan
are sharply different from each other. For example, Tawjihii has the highest stake for students,
teachers and schools; on the other hand, NafKE, TIMSS and PISA have the lowest stake for the
same stakeholders.
In sum, the major student assessments are: (1) The National Test (NT), a census-based test
organized and administered by the MoE; (2) The National Assessment for the Knowledge
Economy (NAfKE) test, a sample-based test organized and administered by National Center for
Human Resource Development (NCHRD) created for the purposes of evaluating the ERfKE
reform program; (3) The Tawjihii, the compulsory certification test for high school graduation
exclusively organized and administered by a special unit in the MoE2; and (4) School
Assessments, continuous or ongoing assessment which are carried out by teachers throughout
school year but informed by guidelines from the MoE. In this report, we restrict our analysis to
TIMSS, PISA and EGRA since we don’t have access to data on student performance in National
Test, Tawjihii and NafKE.
3.1.4. Major Trends in Education Statistics
Table 3.1.1 presents data on basic indicators relating to acces to eduacation and qality of
physical inputs. School enrolment rate is very high in primary and secondary (97% and 82%
respectively) though low at the preprimary level (32%). Student-to-teacher ratio is also
favorable, below 20 at all levels of schooling. All teachers are also reportedly trained. Official
literacy rate is also close to 100%. Therefore, in terms of the commonly used indicators of access
and quality, Jordan’s education system is doing well. However, a different picture emerges when
learning outcomes are assessed.
13 This also includes data on physical quality of school