Project: Senior Secondary Education Improvement Project (ADB-Funded)
Job Title: International Assessment Expert
Location: Remote, with significant travel to Honiara, Solomon Islands
Project Background:
The Solomon Islands Senior Secondary Education Improvement Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), aims to enhance the quality, relevance, and gender-responsiveness of senior secondary education (Years 10-12) to support a climate-resilient economy. With the Solomon Islands facing growing vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters, the project supports curriculum reform to equip students with practical skills and knowledge for adaptive livelihoods and sustainable development. The project includes the modernization of curricula, improvement of assessment practices, development of teaching and learning materials. MEHRD (Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development) is the implementing agency, working in close partnership with development stakeholders and consulting teams.
Position Summary:
The International Assessment Expert will play a pivotal role in modernizing the national student assessment system to align with the reformed senior secondary curriculum. This includes reviewing the existing national assessment framework and providing strategic recommendations to strengthen its structure, relevance, and responsiveness. The expert will design standardized assessments for key grade levels, ensuring they measure student learning outcomes in a manner consistent with competency-based education and international benchmarks such as PISA, TIMSS, and EGRA/EGMA.
A critical focus of this role is the integration of inclusive, gender-sensitive, and formative assessment practices into both classroom instruction and national-level testing. The expert will work in close collaboration with curriculum and teaching and learning materials (TLM) developers to ensure assessment content is not only aligned with the updated curriculum but also supports broader system goals such as equity, climate resilience, and practical skill development. Technical assistance will be provided to improve school-based assessment practices and strengthen teachersโ ability to use data for instructional decision-making.
Capacity building is a central component of the assignment. The International Assessment Expert will deliver professional development programs, facilitate consultative workshops with national stakeholders, and develop guidance materials to institutionalize sustainable assessment practices. By supporting MEHRD and local partners in data collection, analysis, and reporting, the expert will help ensure that assessment data is used meaningfully to inform policy, monitor progress, and continuously improve learning outcomes across the senior secondary system.
Key Responsibilities:
- Review the existing national assessment framework and provide actionable recommendations for improvement.
- Design and implement standardized student assessments at key grade levels in line with international best practices (e.g., PISA, TIMSS, EGRA/EGMA, PIRLS).
- Ensure alignment of assessment systems with the new senior secondary curriculum and competency-based learning objectives.
- Provide technical guidance on data collection, analysis, and reporting mechanisms to monitor student progress and learning outcomes.
- Support integration of assessment practices into newly developed teaching and learning materials.
- Work collaboratively with curriculum and TLM developers to incorporate inclusive, gender-responsive, and disability-sensitive assessment approaches.
- Build capacity of national counterparts through training workshops, coaching, and development of guidance materials on assessment design and implementation.
- Offer technical assistance to improve school-based formative assessment practices and teacher use of assessment data.
- Facilitate stakeholder consultations to ensure assessment reforms are contextually relevant and owned by national actors.
- Contribute to policy recommendations and the development of technical and final project reports, including sustainability planning.
Required Qualifications:
- A Masterโs required (or PhD) in Education, Educational Assessment, Curriculum Development, Educational Measurement, or a related field.
- Minimum 8+ years (10+ preferred) of experience in student assessment, curriculum evaluation, and education program development.
- Proven expertise in competency-based education and curriculum alignment with assessments and TLMs.
- Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating large-scale education assessments.
- Strong knowledge of international assessment frameworks such as PISA, TIMSS, EGRA/EGMA, and PIRLS.
- Experience aligning assessment practices with curriculum reforms in developing countries; experience in Pacific Island nations preferred.
- Strong training and capacity-building skills for teachers, curriculum developers, and policymakers.
- Excellent analytical, data interpretation, and report-writing skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively in cross-cultural, multi-stakeholder settings.
This job posting summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.
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