2010 National Assessment of Dutch in the Third Grade of Secondary Education in Flanders (General - Technical - Art Track)

In 2010 a national assessment was carried out, which was commissioned by the Flemish government, to assess the extent to which students have achieved the attainment targets for Dutch (reading, listening and speaking) at the end of the third grade of general, technical and art secondary education. Data were collected through two written tests: a reading test and a listening test. A representative sample of 3957 pupils from 149 Flemish secondary schools participated. In addition, 380 pupils of the art track, from 5 schools participated in the study. A performance assessment was also administered to assess the attainment targets for speaking. This speaking test was administered to a subsample of 888 students. Tests were supplemented by questionnaires for students, parents and teachers. The student questionnaires asked, among other things, about their reading and listening behaviour at home and at school and their opinions about the importance of Dutch. The parent questionnaire collected information on their child, the family background and their involvement in school. Teachers were, among other things, questioned about the didactic aspects of Dutch classes, the teaching materials used and the language policy at school. The response rates to these questionnaires were 99% for the students, 88% for the parents and 92% for the teachers.