1 Pupil/ Student assessment

2 Progression of pupils/ students

3 Certification

Pupil/ Student assessment

The general and specific rules for student assessment, the award of marks and progression are established in the Education Law 1/2011, with its subsequent changes and additions, as well as in the subsequent legislation, namely the Regulation for the Organisation and Functioning of School Education Establishments (Ordinul Ministrului 5447/2020).

The purpose of assessment is to guide and optimize learning. Assessments are conducted based on the national assessment standards for each subject.

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

The assessment of school achievement takes place on a permanent basis, throughout the school year.  

In upper secondary education, the assessment results are expressed as marks from 1 to 10 (where 10 is the maximum mark). 

The assessment results and the individualised learning plans are communicated to parents and students and are recorded in the student’s educational portfolio.

The assessment tools are chosen based on the age and the psychological and pedagogical particularities of the students, and on the specificity of each subject. These are: 

• oral questioning 
• tests, written works
• experiments and practical activities
• reports
• projects 
• practical tests
• other tools chosen by the methodological committees and approved by the head teacher or developed by the Ministry of  Education and Research/School Inspectorates in compliance with the national legislation. 

The assessment results are recorded in the class book, in blue ink, with the form: “Mark/Date”. The mark awarded by a teacher after each assessment must be communicated and explained to students. Teachers also have to record the students’ marks in their mark books, in the section dedicated to their subject and to indicate the date of the assessment.

The number of marks awarded to each student every semester, for each taught subject, excluding the mark at the written semester test paper , must be at least equal to the weekly number of hours indicated in the Framework Curriculum. An exception is made  for the subjects which are taught just one hour per week and for each the minimum number of marks is two. 

For the curriculum organised in modules, the number of marks awarded each semester must be correlated with the number of hours allocated to each module of the educational plan and with the structure of the module, usually, one mark for 25  hours. The minimum number of marks awarded to a student for a module is two. 

The subjects requiring written semester test papers , as well as the periods when these test papers are taken, are determined through an Order of the Education Minister. The marks awarded to the written semester test paper  are analysed together with the students during a special lesson and are recorded in the class book. The written semester test papers  are kept in school by the end of the school year. 

At the end of each semester and of the school year, teachers will  conclude the students’ final evaluation, and  record it in the class book and in the students’ mark books.

In upper secondary education , the semester and annual average marks for each subject/module are recorded in the class book by the teacher who taught that subject/module. The average marks for conduct are written in the class book by the class teachers.

The annual final average mark for each subject is registered in the School Records . The students’ official school data for the entire period of their schooling are those recorded in the class books and in the School Records. These documents  must be permanently kept first in the archive of the school, and then in the State Archives.

The class teacher, following a consultation with the other teachers of that class, must award to each student a mark for conduct every semester. Conduct marks lower than 6 are decided by the Teacher Council of the school. At the end of each school year, an official ceremony is organised and the class teacher awards distinctions to the students who obtained the first three general average marks in that class of students and the average mark 10 for conduct.

Considering the results of continuous assessment, teachers may decide whether remedial education activities are necessary for the students with low achievement. 

Progression of pupils/ students

In upper secondary education, students in the theoretical and vocational route  can progress from one grade to the next if they obtain at least a 5 for each subject and at least a 6 for conduct as a final mark .

The students in the aptitude-based routes  pedagogical, theological  and military, who received an annual average mark for conduct lower than 8, cannot continue their studies with these profiles. These students have to transfer for the next school year to other profiles/high-schools, in compliance with the legislation in force and the rules for the organisation and functioning of the schools concerned.

The students in grades with an artistic or sport profile, who do not have the average mark for the main subject of their specialisation at least 6, are declared not fit for these profiles/specialisations.

For some students the final evaluation cannot be concluded for one or several subjects, due to any of the reasons indicated below:

• They were absent from at least 50% of the hours provided for those subjects in a semester.
• They had permission from the head teacher to miss classes during the period of their participation in festivals and professional, cultural-artistic and sport competitions, national and international.
• They benefitted from a scholarship recognised by the Ministry of National Education.
• They attended school, for a definite period, in other countries.

The final evaluation for these students will be postponed for a semester or for the entire school year.

The students who obtained an annual average below 5 for more than 2 subjects fail their year.

In case that the curriculum is organised in modules, the following categories of students are declared “failed”: 

• the students who have average marks lower than 5 for the modules which finish in the course of that school year, irrespective of the number of “failed” modules.
• the students who have average marks lower than 5 at maximum 2 modules which finish at the end of the schools year, as well as the postponed students who do not pass the final evaluation examination at maximum 2 modules. 

The re-examination covers the entire subject matter provided by the curriculum for a particular school subject and grade. The re-examination is taken before a board appointed through a decision of the school head teacher. The board is  made of a chair and two members, where one of the two members is the teacher of the student concerned. Depending on the decision of the head teacher, the re-examination includes two of the following three possible tests:

• an oral test - students draw a note with an examination variant from the variants prepared by the examination board. Students are allowed to change the note twice, with a corresponding decrease of the awarded mark. During the oral test, the students answer to the questions written on the note; teachers may ask additional questions related to the topic. 
• a written test - the duration is 90 minutes, and students may choose between two examination topics.
• a practical test.

In most cases, the combination used is oral test – written test. An exception is made  for those subjects which are mainly based on practical activities (s area curricular Technologies).

Each teacher who is a member of the examination board independently awards one mark for each test, and then the final average round mark is calculated. The final mark of the re-examination is the round arithmetic average of the final marks awarded by the teachers. The final mark of the re-examination is considered the final annual mark for that subject and is recorded in the class book and the school records. The students who do not pass the re-examination at a single subject  may be re-examined again before the beginning of the school year. The re-examination is based on a request made by the parents and the approval of the head teacher.

 At the end of the school year some of the students will have to repeat a year (grade retention):

• the students who obtained a final average mark of less than 5 at more than two subjects
• the students who obtained an annual average mark for behavior of less than 6
• the students who failed and did not pass the re-examination;
• the students who failed and did not pass the re-examination; the postponed students who did not pass the (re)examination
• the expelled students, who have the right to re-enrol.

The students who have been declared “held back” may enrol in the next school year for the grade they are repeating, at the same school or with other school.

For the students in upper secondary education and in tertiary non-university education who are “held back” at the end of their first year at these levels, re-enrolment is possible even when the approved number of enrolments is exceeded. 

In the upper cycle of high-school and in full-time tertiary non-university education, students may be in a grade retention situation at most twice. A year of studies may be repeated only once.

The students’ final evaluation at the end of semesters and of the school year is validated by the Teacher Council. The secretary of the Teacher Council indicates in a report the students’ final evaluation for each class of students, naming the students who passed, those who failed, those who were “held back” and those were postponed. The final evaluation of the students who failed, “were held back” and postponed is communicated in writing to their parents. Parents must also be informed about the period when the re-examination takes place.  Most schools organise intensive periods of remedial education in the summer holiday, for the purpose of supporting the students who failed one or more subjects. 

The general and specific rules for student assessment, the award of marks and progression are established in the Framework Regulation for the Organisation and Functioning of School Education Establishments (Order of Minister 5447/2020), and by the Orders of the National Education and Research Minister concerning the final examinations.

Certification

The graduation exam is organised at the end of the tertiary non-university education.

The graduation exam is a mixed internal-external exam consisting of:

 a practical examination

 a written paper

 a project preparation and presentation – all related to the specialisation of the studies.

In order to pass the exam , the candidates must obtain at least the mark 6 for for the practical examination and the project presentation respectively, and the mark 5.00 for the written paper.  The final average mark of the exam has to be at least 6.00. Passing of the exam is attested through a vocational qualification certificate specifying the mark obtained and listing the vocational competences acquired.  

Passing of the exam is attested through a graduation certificate and conferring to the holder the right to exercise on the labour market the endorsed profession. The certificate is issued by the school and confers to the holder the legal right to exercise on the labour market the endorsed trade.

For the graduates that do not pass the exam, the school can issue upon request a certificate specifying the education level passed and the trade/specialisation. The certificate will clearly state the student did not pass the graduation exam.