1 Pupil/Student assessment

2 Progression of pupils/students

3 Certification

Student assessment

General and specific rules for student assessment, marking and progression are laid down both in School Education Law 198/2023, as subsequently amended and complemented, and in its subsequent legislation, namely the Framework Rules for the Organisation and Functioning of School Education Establishments (Order of the education minister No 5726/2024).

The goals of assessment are to guide and optimize the teaching-learning process, as well as to handle one’s learning outcomes.

All assessments are conducted based on national assessment standards for every subject, field of study and training module. For all subjects in lower secondary education which are part of the core curriculum, the national assessment standards are developed by the National Centre for Curriculum and Assessment (CNCE).

Assessment is focused on competences. It provides real feedback to students, parents and teachers and underlies the individual learning plans.

The assessment of learning outcomes takes place permanently throughout a school year. In lower secondary education, the results of assessments are expressed with marks from 1 to 10 (where 10 is the highest mark).

At the end of grade 6, all schools set up and conduct a student assessment with two transdisciplinary tests:

• a test in language and communication; the test covers the Romanian language and the first modern language, and also the mother tongue for students in classes with instruction in a national minority language, and
• a test in mathematics and science.

Assessment tools are chosen in relation to students’ age and psychological-pedagogical particularities and the specificity of each school subject. These tools may be:

• oral assessments,
• tests and papers,
• experiments and practical activities,
• accounts,
• projects,
• practical tests,
• other tools set by the curriculum board and approved by the head teacher or developed by the Ministry of Education / School Inspectorates. 

Assessment results are written down in the class book, in blue ink, in the form mark/date. The marks teachers award after each assessment need to be communicated and explained to the students concerned. Teachers also have an obligation to write down the marks in students’ books in the section assigned to their subject and to mention the date of the assessment.

The number of marks each student gets every year in every subject is determined by the teacher of that subject depending on the weekly number of hours assigned to the subject in the framework curriculum. As a rule, for every subject the annual number of marks is higher at least by three that the number of hours allotted to that subject per week in the framework curriculum but not less than four marks for every subject in a school year. If there are subjects with less than one hour per week, the minimum number of marks a student gets for that subject in a school year is two. 

For every school subject, including for students’ conduct, there is one annual average mark, which is calculated by rounding the mean of the marks to the nearest integer. When there is a difference of 50 hundredths, the rounding favours the student. The average mark for conduct, which is the mean of the marks a student gets for their behaviour during each learning period, is appropriately diminished by one or several points for a number of unjustified absences from school.

The general annual average is calculated as the mean, with two decimal places and by rounding, of the annual averages for all school subjects and for conduct.

The final annual average for every subject is registered in the school’s Matriculation Register. Students’ official information for their entire schooling is the information registered in class books and in the Matriculation Register.

Students with remarkable achievements in their educational activities – at school or out of school – may receive the following rewards: a) their achievements are presented to the class and/or to the school or to the Teachers’ Council; b) a verbal or written communication to their parents / guardians mentioning their outstanding results; c) grants and scholarships for Olympic excellence I and II, as appropriate, or other material rewards offered by the State, economic agents, sponsors, partners or local or county/Bucharest public authorities in compliance with the rules in force; d) awards, diplomas, medals; e) a recommendation for priority for trips or relevant camps in the country or abroad; f) an honours distinction from the school. 

Taking into account the results of ongoing assessment, teachers may decide whether remedial education activities are necessary for low achievers.

On completion of lower secondary education students take the national assessment, which is mandatory. The national assessment of students who complete grade 8 consists of tests in Romanian language and literature, mathematics, and the mother tongue for students who attended lower secondary education with instruction in a national minority language and optionally for students who studied their mother tongue as a school subject. 

The general average at the national assessment is one of the criteria for admission to public high-school education (upper secondary education).

Students who complete grade 8 may be enrolled in grade 9 without taking the national assessment if they were awarded the 1st prize in a national school Olympiad organised and funded by the Ministry of Education or the 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize in international competitions recognised by the Ministry of Education.

School Education Law 198/2024 provides for the possibility of high schools to organise a competition (tests) for admission to grade 9, for some or all the specialisations they offer, for at most 50 % of the number of places set in the enrolment plan in relation to the number of student groups. This competition may take place after the national assessment.

Progression of students

Students who, at the end of the school year, get at least the annual average 5 for each school subject and at least the annual average 6 for conduct are promoted to the next year.

The assessment results are used to develop individualised learning plans for students and for initial guidance towards a particular type of high school. The assessment results and the individualised learning plans are communicated to parents and are also part of students’ educational portfolios.

Students are deferred when their final average marks in one or several subjects cannot be determined for the reasons below:

• they were absent, justifiably or unjustifiably, from at least 50 % of the number of classes assigned to the subject(s) concerned in a school year and did not get the necessary number of marks
• they were given an exemption from school attendance by the head teacher, following an official request, for the period of their participation in national and international professional, cultural-artistic and sports festivals and competitions, etc.
• they were on a scholarship abroad, which is recognised by the Ministry of Education
• they studied, for a definite period, in other countries
• they did not get a sufficient number of marks to determine the average/averages
• the exam period coincides with the childbirth period in the case of pregnant female students or with the childcare period for students who are parents, as proved by medical documents.

Students are failed when they get annual averages below 5 in two school subjects at most. Deferred students who do not pass the exam for their final average marks in two school subjects at most are also failed. 

Failed students take an exam for which they must cover all the contents provided in the curriculum for that particular subject and grade. 

In the exam taken by failed students, the exam board is composed of a chair and two examining teachers for each subject. One of the two examining teachers is the one who taught that particular subject to the student concerned during the school year. The board is responsible for choosing the exam topics/questions.

In lower secondary education, the written test of the exam taken by failed students lasts 90 minutes as from the moment the student receives the topics/questions. The written test has two variants, from which the student chooses one to answer.

The oral test of the exam taken by failed students takes the form of a dialogue between the teacher and the student based on exam notes with questions.

Each examining teacher awards a mark in every test taken by the failed student. The marks in oral and practical tests are integers. The marks in written tests may also be fractions. The mean of the marks awarded by each teacher in the two or three tests taken by the student, rounded to the nearest integer, is the final mark of the exam awarded by each teacher. Fractions of 50 hundredths are rounded so as to favour the student.

The average mark of the exam taken by failed students is the mean, with two decimal places, without rounding, of the final marks awarded by the two examining teachers. The difference between the final marks given by the two examining teachers should not be more than one, otherwise there is a mediation by the chair of the exam board.

A failed student passes a subject of the exam if they get at least the average 5.

At the end of the exam session for failed students, students who do not pass a single subject are entitled to a re-examination. Re-examination is approved by the head teacher, in justified cases, only once in a school year.

The final mark of the exam taken by a failed student is considered the final annual mark for that particular subject and is registered in the class book and in the Matriculation Register.

Students are retained if at the end of the school year are in one of the following situations:

• they got annual averages below 5 in more than two school subjects (they failed more than two subjects)
• they got an annual average for conduct lower than 6
• they failed two subjects at most, and they were not present to take the exam for failed students or did not pass that exam in all the subjects they failed
• they were deferred and they were not present in the session for determining their final average mark in at least one subject.

Retained students are enrolled, on request, in the grade they repeat in the next school year at the same school, even in excess of the maximum number of students per class provided by law, or they may transfer to another school.

Students in compulsory education who have a number of unjustified school absences which led to an impossibility for the student to complete two successive school years are considered to be in a school dropout situation. Students in such situation may be re-enrolled, on request, in the grade they dropped out of.

For people who are more than four years older than the typical age of a grade in lower secondary education, compulsory education may also be organised as part-time education in compliance with a methodology approved by a ministerial order, or in the programme A Second Chance.

The Teachers’ Council approves the report on the annual averages presented by every teacher responsible for a class of students, as well as the averages after the sessions for deferred students, additional examinations and failed students.  The Teachers’ Council also approves the disciplinary sanctions applied to students.

Parents or guardians are notified in writing about disciplinary sanctions, final averages which could not be determined, failed subjects or grade retention.  

General and specific rules concerning the assessment, marking and progression of students are laid down in the Framework Rules for the Organisation and Functioning of School Education Establishments (Order of the education minister No 5079/2016 complemented by Order of the education minister No 5726/2024) and in ministerial orders concerning the national assessment.

Certification

All students who complete lower secondary education receive a completion certificate and a transcript of records, which are part of their educational portfolio. 

The educational portfolio includes documents that are relevant in respect of students’ learning outcomes: certifications presenting results in school subjects, per years of study / levels of education; results in national assessments and recommendations for catching up with any losses in learning; products or outcomes of activities conducted; diplomas, certificates or other documents obtained following as assessment of competences acquired in different formal, non-formal and informal contexts.

The educational portfolio is used from the start of compulsory education throughout school education. Information from the educational portfolio may be used to identify educational gaps and it underlies any support interventions.

At the end of compulsory education, the school counsellor teacher and the teacher responsible for the class of students have an obligation to issue a recommendation for a form of education at a higher level serving as school guidance for every student. Recommendations are only consultative and are issued based on a specific methodology and included in the educational portfolio.