The Assessment series is designed to provide systematic information on the effectiveness of school education in Hong Kong. The script method is as follows:
1. Collect information from various sources to form all sorts of educational indicators in the Assessment.2. The educational indicators in the Assessment are selected from the internationally applicable sections of the Statistical Yearbook of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, published in 1996 and 1999.
3. Refer to the 63 Level 2 and Level 3 indicators in the 2001 report of the Hong Kong Education Bureau on the educational performance of Hong Kong schools, including teacher quality, teacher-student ratio and teaching quality, school resources and facilities, academic performance, extra-curricular performance, student support measures, teacher job satisfaction, average teacher attritions over the past three years, teaching language, teaching mode, school history, average percentage of E grade or above in the past five college entrance examinations and per capita excellent rate, average percentage of 14 points in 6 subjects in the past five HKCEE, qualified rate in Chinese and English, per capita excellent rate, results of the last five DSE Diplomas and the final year (the enrollment rate of JUPAS, the number and percentage of students admitted to HKU/CUHK/HKUST each year, 5**, 5*, 5 or above excellent rate, excellent rate of grade 4 or above and excellent results per capita,33222 percentage of university entrance criteria, pass rate of grade 3 and 2 or above), primary school to middle school allocation results (number and ratio of secondary schools in Band 1, Band 2 & Band 3), results of kindergarten placement into primary school (number and ratio of primary schools promoted to Band 1, Band 2 & Band 3), final IB course results (the number and percentage of students with IB45/40/35 or above respectively), the number and percentage of students admitted to the top 10/20/30/50/100 universities in the world each year, Hong Kong subject test results before entry to FORM 1, territory-wide System Assessment Results (Form 3), students' participation in inter-school and inter-port sports competitions, students participate in school music, drama, recitation and dance festivals, students' participation in social and voluntary services, learning atmosphere, students' moral behavior, teaching style, teachers' ethics, school management style, school honor, etc.
Indicators selection and concept description
It must be selected according to established criteria. Four specific criteria are as follows:
1. Provide sufficient evidence to be easily understood by users at all levels, and try to avoid using composite or complex indicators;
2. Withstand time and help decision-makers make reasonable predictions about future results;
3. Measure lasting characteristics in school education and help focus future direction;
4. Help describe the current operation and effectiveness of school education;
Educational indicators do not provide an exhaustive picture of the effectiveness of school education but only a "snapshot" of the current situation. Therefore, a set of indicators needs to be developed to give a comprehensive picture of the effectiveness of a particular school. The indicators need to be linked together logically in order to present the overall picture, and the linking method should be based on a model and framework that illustrates the overall functioning of school education.
There is considerable literature on conceptual models or methods for developing educational indicators. For example, Averch et al. (1971) proposed five methods for studying educational indicators: Input/output method, process method, organization method, evaluation method and experimental method, Baker (1978) proposed the consumption and production pattern of educational indicators, Yamamoto (1987) proposed induction method, Meuret (1987) advocated the use of composite indicators, and so on.
(Please refer to chapter 3 for details on the Assessment system, and how to process the evaluation data and calculate the ranking for 2021/22 secondary/primary/kindergarten/international school) |
The "Input - Process - Effectiveness" framework has been adopted in this Assessment as it covers the three main components of Hong Kong's education system. In addition, it also meets the requirements of the above four criteria. Therefore, the above 63 indicators are integrated into a three-tier structure, which is not described in detail here, and the description of the first and the second-level indicators is shown in the image above.
In the process of forming the Assessment, some information will inevitably be lost due to some internal factors, and the future survival and development of the school will be affected by contingency, so it may not be the only factor that determines the future of the school. Objective and factual data are provided as much as possible, but it is impossible to determine with great precision the future of specific schools, any more than assessments of human health can accurately determine individual longevity. However, just as the evaluation of the standard human health standard can very closely reflect the health and life expectancy of the human body, the Assessment can very closely reflect the objective condition and predict the future of the school.
The Assessment has been conducted for nine consecutive years, and the results have been recognized by the majority of parents. Rankings like Top 20 most competitive international Schools in Hong Kong and Top 100 International Schools with the most educational competitiveness in China were added this year in order to further help parents choose schools.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, school closures have impacted overall education in Hong Kong's secondary, primary and kindergarten schools, resulting in a significant drop in student performance (as shown in the chart below).
In terms of the secondary/primary division, St Paul's Girls' Secondary School and Diocesan Girls' Primary School still occupy the top spot; International English Kindergarten took the crown for the first time; DRE International School won the title in the Hong Kong/China International School category. Please see the relevant ranking guide for details.
The significance and value of the Assessment
There is a widespread expectation that numbers will reflect the state of Hong Kong's education as people believe that numbers speak louder than arguments. However, numbers are valuable but not omnipotent. Numbers are abstractions, at the cost of a certain amount of information loss; Digital processing must be based on certain assumptions, which are at the cost of "ignoring objective concreteness" to some extent. Judging by numbers must be based on certain logic of causality which is affected by subjectivity to some extent. The Assessment is also influenced by subjective factors. That is, it is impossible for any indicator of competitiveness to be 100% objective. As long as scientific principles and scientific methods are applied, numbers and numerical analysis can be infinitely close to objectivity and illustrate the educational situation in various schools by numbers.
The value of numbers lies in application. It should be recognize and respect numbers but don't idolize and lose judgment in front of them. The data must be quantifiable and traceable in the Assessment, however, the final score is not a judgment on the overall strength and weakness of each school. It will be its greatest value if all schools, especially excellent ones, can view the Assessment with an open-minded and self-examination attitude. It is hoped that it will become a repository of shared digital resources with sustainable value, providing a reference guide for parents choosing schools and educators.