System evaluation in Romania: Using information for system improvement

This chapter looks at how Romania uses information about the education system to monitor its performance and inform policy making. While it does have many of the components of system evaluation in place, it lacks a coherent national strategy to draw on this information effectively. This chapter suggests that the “Educated Romania” initiative could help to address this by creating a national education strategy underpinned by indicators to monitor progress. The absence of standardised data on student outcomes and the contextual information that might shape learning weakens system evaluation in Romania; the Grade 4 national assessment could be revised to address these gaps. Finally, educational improvement hinges on feedback; making information more accessible at the local and school levels will help them to make better use of data to lead improvement.