KOROR (Palau Horizon) – The House of Delegates has passed a bill that would require elementary and high school students to take the 9th edition of Stanford Achievement Test. This would allow the government to evaluate the performance of Palauan students, lawmakers said.
The delegates passed Senate Bill 6-68, which was authored by Sen. Joshua Koshiba, following a report presented by the House Committee on Education.
The bill now goes to President Tommy Remengesau.
In its report, the committee said the Palau Achievement Test is used to assess the students’ knowledge of the current curriculum.
SAT9, however, is designed for students who use English as first language and includes tests that may require knowledge about materials not part of the existing curriculum.
“However, it will serve to provide information on how our students compare with students in the United States,” the committee said.
The bill, which is entitled the Educational Assessment Act of 2001, also seeks to appropriate $110,000 for conducting SAT9.
It also proposes that all teaching personnel of the Ministry of Education and non-public school teachers should take the National Teacher’s Examination Core Battery Test, which will assess the teaching ability of the educators.
Student missionary teachers and non-permanent volunteer teachers would be exempted from this test.
