The Government once again suspended the Learn tests and there is controversy

Ricardo Braginski

06/15/2021 8:31 PM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 06/15/2021 8:41 PM

A new controversy arises in educational matters.

The national Ministry of Education informed the provinces on Tuesday that

it will not do the Aprender tests this year

and the Buenos Aires Minister of Education Soledad Acuña

came out strong to criticize the measure

. 

Instead of conducting a census evaluation of all students in the last year of primary school - as was the case this year - the Ministry will carry out a

“pilot test” in 120 schools.

To this will be added surveys of teachers, students, managers that will serve as a

comprehensive evaluation of the educational system

from the perspective of the actors.

Argentina has

more than 22,000 primary schools

.

Due to the pandemic, last year the Government had also suspended the Learning Operation, with which it has been two years in a row without it being possible to know how the learning has evolved.

Also last year, the Aprender test had been replaced by a survey and

evaluation of "pedagogical continuity"

answered by teachers, students, managers.

The Government said that the new edition of the Learn operation

will be held in April next year

, when there will be

more school attendance

.

Acuna's criticism was immediate.

“Evaluations contribute to continuous educational improvement processes, promote reflection on the task of teaching and help to achieve the goals set.

For this reason, this year it

is essential to have information to know where we are and to make decisions based on evidence, "

said the Buenos Aires Minister of Education.

The path to building the future begins with acknowledging reality.

I open thread 👇

- María Soledad Acuña (@Soledad_Acunia) June 15, 2021

"At the national level, the Aprender evaluations provide valuable information about education in our country and

today, more than ever, discontinuing them would be a mistake,

" he added.

According to the Minister of Education Nicolás Trotta told

Clarín

, the decision to suspend the Learning Operation this year is due to the fact that it must be guaranteed that all students can respond at the same time.

The test must be done the same day, and for that it is necessary to

ensure that there is presence everywhere

.

By calendar, the Learn operation is usually taken on some day in October and the results are communicated in March of the following year.

The "Operational Learning" is a

standardized test of Mathematics and Language

aimed at all students who finish primary and secondary school.

It is census and is taken on the same day, at the same time, in all schools in the country.

It is biannual: one year is taken for primary school students and the next for secondary school students.

The last operation was taken in October 2019 to the secondary ones.

The results are worrying: only 28.6% of the boys who finished secondary education had a satisfactory level in Mathematics and 42.8% were located "below basic". 

The census test of the Learn operation is complemented by

another sample

of Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. In theory, its results are used to follow the evolution of student learning and as an

input to make educational policy decisions

.

The Aprender test acquired its current form and name from the government of Mauricio Macri, who

made this issue a workhorse

. In reality, it was the redesign of another test of learning that already existed in the country (the National Evaluation Operation -ONE) that

had received much criticism during the Cristina Kirchner government

for two main reasons: because many students did not answer it and their results lost representativeness; and because

that government did not report the results

either in time (a year later) or publicly.