Tes Cepat Diagnostic Test to Increase Community Participation in Improving Learning Outcomes in Indonesia’s Remote Primary Schools BRIEF Parental involvement in education is critical, but many parents and community members are not aware of the urgency of learning crisis in Indonesia. A 2016 survey conducted by the World Bank in Indonesia’s remote areas (2019) found that 83 percent of parents were satisfied with their children’s education, even though most students were performing two grade levels below their current grades. Tes Cepat was developed in the spirit of citizen-led assessment movements that aim to increase parental involvement in education by providing them access to learning information that is easily understood and can be monitored on a regular basis. Empowering citizens with information allow them to demand and act in collaboration with teachers and other relevant stakeholders to improve quality of education for their children. Tes Cepat is an adaptive student learning assessment instrument, which can be administered by parents and community members to provide a low-stakes and frequent means to benchmark student aptitude. Individual results are mapped against learning continuum and presented in a simple graph to make learning outcomes comprehensible to citizens. Who and what How can is Tes Cepat Tes Cepat be assessing? used? The test is administered to students in primary grade The test results allow education stakeholders 1 through 6. Six students are selected randomly to immediately compare learning outcomes in from each grade. A total of 36 students are tested each grade level of a primary school with national from each school. The test serves as a shortened standards. In KIAT Guru, the test results became the and quick version of KIAT Guru’s Student Learning foundation for collective action between teachers, Assessment (SLA) for basic primary grade reading parents, community and stakeholders to support and math competencies. learning at school and at home. How is Tes Cepat administered? The test was initially developed as a paper-based assessment in 2016. Starting in 2019, the test was transformed into a digital android-based mobile phone application to enable local administration, result scoring, and data storage (Figure 1). The application has been utilized in 410 remote primary schools. Both formats of the test are available for public use. Each format comes with its own pre-conditions that should be taken into consideration Figure 1. Tes Cepat paper format has been digitized into an Android-based Mobile Phone Application when selecting most suitable test based on the availability of human resources and physical infrastructures in targeted local communities. Digital Tes Cepat, for example, requires internet connectivity for test downloading and mobile devices that can used to administer the test. How are Tes Cepat results scored? The most difficult question that a student can answer marks their grade-level competency. Student’s results are plotted into a visual map (Figure 2) that indicates where they are in the learning continuum. If a student is marked as having their grade-level competency, they will Who can administer be plotted in the green box in their respective grade row. Contrary, students who are marked Tes Cepat? as having competencies below their grade level will be plotted to the left of the green box, specifically in the box of the respective grade- The test can be administered by level competency they are marked in. Students parents, community members, and who are marked as illiterate or innumerate will anyone with basic literacy in reading, be plotted in the red boxes. and in using Android-based mobile phone for the digital format. In KIAT Guru, teachers were not involved Figure 2. Competency Map from Tes Cepat Results in the administration of Tes Cepat to ensure objectivity of the test, BAHASA INDONESIA although they disseminated the GRADE IL IL G G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 SAMPLE test results together with the parents in village-wide meetings. 1 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 6 However, in the future, Tes Cepat may be otherwise be utilized by 2 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 6 teachers to conduct formative 3 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 4 assessments and modify teaching pace accordingly. 4 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 6 5 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 6 Note: 1. IL: Iliterate 3. BB: Below Basic 2. IN: Innumerate 4. G#: Grade-level competency Why and how is Tes Cepat adaptive? Tes Cepat was designed to be quick to implement to cater to student’s attention span. Adaptive test presents items based on student’s performance. Each student starts with a question at their current grade level. A correct response prompts a more difficult question, while an incorrect response presents an easier question. The test progresses according to a student’s ability and concludes with the most difficult question that the student can solve. This approach prevents students from being intimidated and enables them to perform according to their actual ability. How is Figure 3. Steps in Training, Administering, and Disseminating Tes Cepat Tes Cepat 1 2 3 4 5 6 implemented? Pelatihan Pelatihan Lokasi, Pelaksanaan Penilaian Diseminasi para anggota waktu, adaptif tes tes The test is implemented based on pelatih masyarakat sampel a set of steps and guidelines in its training, administration, and actions from results. Figure 3 outlines the steps required to ensure quality field implementation of Tes Cepat, including use of its results to create actions by citizens and teachers. Pelatihan Pelaksanaan Tindak lanjut dari hasil Tes Cepat has been administered by 839 community members and parents to test 5,967 students in 410 remote schools across five lagging regions in Indonesia. The background paper and the brief are the products of the World Bank Indonesia’s Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice, as part of the Indonesia KIAT Guru: Improving Teacher Performance and Accountability pilot. Dewi Susanti led the task team. Sharon Kanthy Lumbanraja and Indah Ayu Prameswari wrote the technical paper. Dinda Putri Hapsari, Fazlania Zain and Purwa Rahmanto produced the publications. Financial support was generously provided by the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Local Solutions to Poverty and USAID’s Local Solutions to Development Trust Funds. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. For more information, please contact: dsusanti@worldbank.org.