ÖĞRENCİ BAŞARISINI BELİRLEME SINAVININ (ÖBBS) ÖĞRENCİ DEĞERLENDİRME STANDARTLARI KAPSAMINDA DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ: BİR META DEĞERLENDİRME ARAŞTIRMASI

Education system is one of the basic systems that shape the social structure. Like all systems, the education system is made up of certain elements. Each of these elements which are attached to and complement one another just like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle has an important function within the education system. These elements constituting the education system are purpose, content, the teaching-learning process and evaluation (Yaşar 2008, 2; Karadüz 2009, 193-194). Evaluation, one of these elements, allows determining the applications carried out in the education system; the functioning of the system; and the effectiveness of each part that constitutes the system. Johnson and Johnson (2002, 96) state that the purposes of the dimension of evaluation include determining the current knowledge and skills of students; monitoring the process executed to achieve the educational goals determined with the help of the education programs; and making a judgment regarding students’ learning. One of the evaluations made in the education process includes studies regarding the evaluation of education programs, and another one covers evaluation studies carried out in the instructional process. The evaluation applications carried out for students allow evaluating students’ learning as well as their skills, attitudes and study habits (Popham, 2008). In every phase of the education system, it is necessary to make decisions regarding both the system and its elements and those taking charge in the system and the students constituting the basis of the system as well as regarding the applications carried out, to determine the malfunctions and deficiencies and accordingly to make the necessary corrections and changes. This is only possible if the necessary decisions are made as a result of the evaluations regarding instruction, students’ achievements, students’ levels of learning and development, student selection and placement, appropriate educational guidance for students, the curriculum, management of education and teachers (Yaşar 2008, 32; Karadüz 2009, 193-194; Koç, 2007). Evaluation applications carried out for students could have different purposes. In general, student evaluations serve such student-oriented functions as recognizing and placing students, determining students’ deficiencies in learning, revealing the factors effective on the learning process and determining students’ levels of learning (Özçelik, 1998; Johnson and Johnson, 2002, 6; Linn and Gronlund, 1995, 14). However, whatever purpose or type they are, the evaluations made should be correct, valid and reliable to make appropriate decisions. In 1997, the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) started studies to determine the standards for student evaluation accepted on national basis in line with the research results which indicated that there is no standard for student evaluation at schools and that the things to be evaluated are not determined in advance in the field of education. As a result of these studies completed in 2003, JCSEE developed the Student Evaluation Standards. The Student Evaluation Standards are used to determine how a student evaluation study should be carried out, which criteria should be taken into consideration during the execution of such a study or whether a competed study has been executed as appropriate to the standards determined (Gullickson, 2005 216). As in many countries where the population, the schooling rate and the number of school types are rapidly increasing, evaluation systems that allow selecting and placing students are adopted in almost all educational levels in Turkey. These evaluations reveal important results that influence the decisions to be made regarding such issues as students’ passing the class, their attending upper-level educational institutions and their employment. In addition, the evaluations made play an important role in teachers’ direct and indirect evaluations, in determining and developing school programs and in making it possible to pay the price before the public. In order to have effective, reliable and valid evaluations that to a great extent shape and guide the lives of individuals and societies, student evaluation systems should have a good-quality and systematic structure based on certain criteria. This is only possible when examinations and evaluations are made regarding the execution of evaluation activities and applications and regarding sharing of the results obtained and when the evaluation systems are improved with necessary corrections. In Turkey, there are a number of comprehensive evaluations such as public personnel selection examination (KPSS), the transition to higher education examination (YGS), and student achievement examination (ÖBBS). However, the facts that there is no research examining how these evaluation studies are conducted and how the results of such studies are shared makes the present study important. In this respect, this unique study examined to what extent the report regarding the exam for determining student achievement in 2009 met the standards developed by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. The basic purpose of the present study was to determine how appropriate the report regarding the Exam for Determining Student Achievement conducted in 2009 in Turkey is to the Student Evaluation Standards developed by JCSEE. The study was carried out as a meta-evaluation study. In this way, the study tried to reveal the strong and weak aspects of the evaluation report. In order to determine how appropriate the Exam for Determining Students’ Achievement (EDSA) conducted in 2009 was to the Student Evaluation Standards developed by JCSEE, the secondary school EDSA report prepared in 2009 by the Ministry of National Education, EARGED was examined with the “document analysis method”. The data collection tool used in the study was developed as a 27-item 3-point Likert-type scale including such options as “Completely Meets”, “Partly Meets” and “Never Meets” regarding four basic fields. The study was carried out by two experts. The results demonstrated that the evaluation report completely met 11 standards, partly met six standards and never met 10 standards. In addition, the findings also revealed that the report was partly beneficial in legal and ethical respects; that it was partly applicable in terms of its execution according to the plan; that it was partly applicable in terms of effectiveness and informativeness; and that it was not efficient in terms of interpretations, supported results and suggestions for future. The research results are expected to help individuals who will prepare beneficial, appropriate, practical and correct evaluation reports or who will make student evaluations.