Latvian school principals urge caution on planned assessment reform
85 heads of Latvian schools have signed a letter urging authorities not to approve planned changes to how students' summative grades can be improved without further impact assessment. Parliament's education committee is set to review the amendments on August 31.
Heads of Latvian educational institutions have sent a letter to the President, members of parliament and government, the State Education Development Agency, and the Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees, calling for the planned amendments to the basic education standard not to be approved in their current form. The changes concern how students would be allowed to improve their summative assessment results.
The letter has so far been signed by 85 school principals, with the number continuing to grow. The directors point to several risks, including possible effects on the consistency of the grading system, teachers' workload, and students' and parents' understanding of responsibility in learning.
Why an assessment is needed
The principals note that in recent years teachers have already shifted their practice toward formative assessment and timely feedback, while grades are increasingly understood not as punishment or reward but as information about a student's current performance. They argue the real question is not how many times a student should be allowed to retake an assessment, but what kind of learning culture such changes would foster in schools.
Low academic achievement, the directors say, can stem from various causes — learning difficulties, motivation or emotional issues, absences, or lack of support at home or school — and simply offering more chances to redo tests will not solve these problems on its own. Instead, students need quality teaching, early identification of difficulties, and individual support, alongside a shared model of responsibility among students, teachers and parents.
What the reform proposes
The Ministry of Education and Science proposes that from next school year, students be guaranteed at least one opportunity per subject to improve a summative grade during the year, while students with special needs would get this option after each topic. The ministry also plans to drop the nationally mandated weighting principle for grades, letting each school decide, and to remove the 20% minimum threshold in ninth-grade centralized exams as a condition for obtaining a basic education certificate. For secondary education, the requirement for all students to take one advanced-level centralized exam would also be dropped.
The principals are asking that data justifying the need for these changes be published before any decision and that there be broader discussion with the education sector. Parent organizations and coalition partners have previously voiced similar concerns about rushing the reform. Parliament's Education, Culture and Science Committee plans to review the amendments on August 31.
