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Dubai students top world average

Dubai - Students achieving the highest results were those following the UK and IB curricula.

While results of international assessments showed that Dubai private schools are performing at or above the global average, education providers are collaborating to achieve goals outlined in the UAE National Agenda 2021.
On Monday, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) announced that Emirati students have improved across the board in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 international assessments.
Improvements of the assessment, released last November, were more pronounced in Grade 4 as compared to Grade 8 in both science and maths.
The performance of Dubai private schools hit the national agenda targets as Grade 8 TIMSS students were rated on par with schools in the 15 high performing countries.
In the Programme for the International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, Dubai private schools have performed similar to schools in 20 high performing countries, in reading and in science, exceeding the average set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which publishes the report.
"As for grade 4 of TIMSS 2015, we still have 20-30 points (to be on par with 15 highest performing countries) due to the significant improvement the rest of participating countries have achieved," said Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director-general of KHDA. "Grade 4 students showing such improvement globally is a great indicator of the nature of the young generation growing up."
Students achieving the highest results were those following the UK and IB curricula.
While Dubai schools have recorded "great achievements," Al Karam said the important question is: What's next?
"Previous results showed Emiratis, for example, were not similar to their peers, but today's results prove that some schools have changed and managed to close these gaps," said Al Karam.
"With these results, we know we have what it takes to make the improvement made only in the last cycle, but the way to get to where we want to be is to work collectively, which is the message of the national agenda of UAE," he addressed school principals at an event hosted by KHDA. 
However as far as schools in the UAE as the whole are concerned, they are currently ranked below the international average of 500 points in the last TIMSS cycle. Al Karam said under the national agenda, education regulars from different emirates will work closely to meet the national goals as a nation.
Dr Rabaa Al Sumaiti, executive-director of international assessments at KHDA, said there are certain challenges to address as the emirate prepares for the next assessments taking place in 2018.
"Next PISA exam's main domain will be reading. And if 15-year-olds (administered by PISA) are not exposed to diverse texts at school and taught the importance of reading, they will find the exam challenging," said Al Sumaiti.
She added that TIMSS will witness a major change from paper-based assessment to computer-based, which will introduce more test items not included in the paper form.
"These challenges will bring us closer together to see what can we do to improve student performance," she said, urging principals of different schools to work hand in hand towards national goals.
While the KHDA sets customised objectives for schools to meet in both assessments, Al Sumaiti said almost 60 per cent  of schools that participated in TIMSS have met or exceeded national agenda target, which will prompt the authority set new targets.
Dubai private schools will receive their individual scores by the end of March to help them pinpoint weaknesses and come up with better plans.
"For schools who didn't achieve their targets, the authority analyses the weaknesses and comes up with a plan that suits them in terms of improvement in curricula and assessment, training sessions."
Recently, the KHDA introduced the UAE National Agenda Parameter which measures and monitors schools' progress towards achieving the targets as part of school inspections. "The close alignment between school inspection ratings and international assessment results means that we are able to have an annual, accurate measure of schools' progress with the UAE National Agenda targets," said Al Sumaiti.
"We cannot wait for each cycle of PISA and TIMMS (which take place every three and four years respectively) to tell us how schools are performing. The parameter allows schools to measure each student's performance and readjust its goals accordingly."
Al Karam noted, "what is intriguing about the national agenda is that for the first time, we have a set agenda for everyone. These assessments represent the pride of a whole nation."

2021 targets
UAE National Agenda 2021's targets include getting the UAE's average TIMSS (global measurement of 4th and 8th grade students in math and science) into the top 15 countries of the world, and the UAE's average PISA (a global test administered to 15-year-olds in reading, science and math) into the world's top 20 countries.
Meeting the rankings by 2021 is an ambitious goal for UAE schools currently ranked below the international average. To fulfil the national agenda goals, students must rank 520 in all the subjects, where they currently stand at 437 and below. In TIMSS, grade eight students must score 510 and grade four students must score 530.