The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will prepare common test papers for final grades. Schools expect the tests to provide a more objective assessment of student performance, but are asking for early guidance on how they will be held and how the data will be used.
More data for assessing teaching quality
Under Circular 89/2026/TT-BGDĐT, which takes effect on December 1, 2026, the education department will lead the development, review and provision of common periodic tests for students in grades 5, 9 and 12 in selected subjects assessed by marks. The department will announce the subjects before the tests are held.
The rule has prompted managers and teachers in Ho Chi Minh City to raise requirements for test design, administration and the use of results.
Nguyen Doan Trang, principal of Tran Van On Secondary School in Tan Dinh Ward, said citywide common semester tests were a sound initiative. Tests should show student performance and provide feedback for adjusting teaching and education-quality management, she said.
When schools use papers built from the same blueprint, specification and curriculum requirements, the results should be more consistent and comparable than results from separate tests written by each school.
Analysis of the data could show how well students meet curriculum requirements and identify gaps in knowledge and skills. It could support changes in professional guidance, teacher training and help for schools. For schools and subject groups, the data could be used to compare results with the citywide level and plan improvements.
Trang stressed that marks are only one indicator of learning outcomes, not the sole measure of education quality. Analysis should consider students' starting levels, teaching conditions and individual progress. The result of one test should not be treated as the full quality of a teacher's or school's work.
Pham Le Thanh, a chemistry teacher and subject-group leader at Nguyen Hien High School in Binh Thoi Ward, said department-led test design could reduce the burden on schools of writing, reviewing and securing test papers. It could also reduce unnecessary differences in difficulty, content coverage and assessment requirements.
Thanh supports common tests but wants the blueprint and test scope published early, the schedule coordinated, test security strengthened and a mechanism created to analyze results after the tests.
He said the main value of common tests was not identifying which school had a higher or lower average score. The priority was objective data on learning conditions and decisions based on it. Results should be analyzed by subject, skill group and curriculum requirement, then used to adjust teaching methods and plans for additional student support.
Common standards while preserving school autonomy
An administrator at a high school in Ben Thanh Ward said the plan needed suitable implementation conditions. The pace of the curriculum, test content and test timing had to be coordinated.
Although all schools follow the 2018 General Education Program, their education plans, teaching pace and approach to individual topics can differ.
The administrator therefore asked the Ho Chi Minh City education department to define and announce the knowledge scope, blueprint, specification and expected schedule early. Schools need time to make their own plans, allocate teaching hours and organize revision.
Students must have fully covered the tested content during their studies and have enough time to consolidate and apply what they have learned.
The administrator said preparation for the tests should not damage teaching quality. The goal is for students to develop the knowledge, qualities and skills required by the program, not simply to finish the curriculum before the test date.
The principal of a primary school in central Ho Chi Minh City also noted that the 2018 program gives schools autonomy in designing and organizing their education plans. Common tests should have shared standards and timing while preserving each school's professional flexibility.
A common test should not mean that every school must follow the same teaching sequence, she said. Early, specific guidance would help schools arrange their work.
Thanh agreed that publishing only scores or school rankings would fail to use the full value of assessment and could create unnecessary pressure for achievement. The blueprint should be published early, the test scope should match the curriculum pace, the schedule should be coordinated and test security should be maintained. A mechanism is also needed to analyze and use the data after testing. “Most importantly, common tests should aim to improve education quality, not merely compare or rank schools,” he said.
Test-paper security
An administrator at a high school in Xuan Hoa Ward proposed a common question bank to help schools standardize test structures. However, he said the approach still had problems if the goal was to create comparable assessment data across the city.
The first problem is security. If a question bank is supplied to many institutions, the risk of questions circulating before the test could rise without strict management, access controls and monitoring. Even with a shared blueprint and question bank, choosing different questions can produce papers with different difficulty and discrimination.
A shared blueprint does not mean equal difficulty, and a shared scoring scale does not guarantee directly comparable results. If a common bank is used, it will require a review process, question-quality analysis, equivalent test forms and data protection.
A high-school principal proposed that the department directly prepare common tests for selected subjects and hold them on a unified schedule.
The principal said the assessment tool, testing conditions and marking guidance had to be coordinated. Common papers or verified equivalent forms, a shared testing period and a common procedure could reduce the risk of leaks and differences caused by testing conditions.
“However, common tests should be introduced on a suitable schedule, with impact assessments and attention to schools' actual conditions, to avoid adding administrative and exam pressure for teachers and students,” the principal said.
Sources: Thanh Niên
