The USAID-funded Education Consortium for the Advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Egypt Program established five STEM high schools. However, since students in these schools had different learning standards than those implemented in traditional public schools, it was imperative to develop an assessment system that reflected different learning standards.

In partnership with World Learning, we worked to develop a robust university readiness test specifically designed to reflect the Egyptian context and measure the students’ readiness and aptitude to enter university.

The University Readiness Test was based on the American College Testing assessment, with tests in English language, mathematics and science. In addition to developing individual test items, pilot testing and overall test construction, we also conducted operational testing, reported on scoring and developed a database to house the students’ test results.

Through our work, we built the capacity of the Ministry of Education and its National Center for Educational Evaluation and Examinations to implement and sustain the University Readiness Test long after the project’s end.