Because every pupil counts: the success of the pupil monitoring system in The Netherlands

Abstract

The National Institute for Educational Measur ement in The Netherlands has developed a pupil monitoring system for primary education to assess pupils‘ learning progress on a longitudinal basis. If pupil development is unsatisfactory, pupil monitoring system material can be used to locate and tackle the problems. This article describes the system, the set-up of the longitudinal calibration, the psychometrics used and the educational procedure for structured action. The pupil monitoring system comes with a software program and this article also explains the possibilities of the program, the information it provides to the teacher and school, the role of the computer and the advantages of working with the program. Experience of working with the system is discussed as well as the modifications and improvements that may be necessary in the future