Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Marks and national tests, lower secondary school
Topic: Education
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Responsible division
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Division for Education and Culture Statistics
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Overall achievement mark
The overall achievement mark in a given subject is based on a broad evaluation of the pupil’s competence in the subject. The pupil shall be given the opportunity to improve their competence displayed through their classwork until the overall achievement mark is determined towards the end of the academic year. Marks are awarded on a scale from 1 to 6, where mark 6 indicates that the pupil holds exceptionally high competence, and 1 indicates that the pupil has attained little competence in the subject.
Examination mark
The examination marks are based on single tests, and are included on the school-leaving certificate awarded to all pupils when they leave the 10-year compulsory school. Normally, pupils are tested by a written examination in Norwegian, English or mathematics, and by oral examination in one subject. The scale used is identical to the one applied for overall achievement marks.
Lower secondary school points
Lower secondary school points can be viewed as a combined measurement for all marks. The lower secondary school point score summarizes the pupil’s results in all the different subjects, and is part of the admission criteria for upper secondary school. A pupil’s school points are calculated by adding up each individual mark attained (overall achievement or examination), represented by numbers. This outcome is then divided by the number of marks, resulting in an average mark. The final score is calculated by multiplying this average, with two decimals, by 10. If the pupil has attained marks in less then half of his/her subjects, the lower secondary school point score is set to zero. In these statistics, pupils with zero school points are excluded.
Ownership
Schools are either privately owned or public schools (i.e. owned by the state, municipalities or counties).
Mastering levels
The mastering levels follow the guidelines given by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. There are three levels for 5th grade and five levels for 8th grade. The pupils are placed at the different levels according to their sum score at the tests.
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Standard classifications
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Parents’ highest level of education is derived from register information in The National Education Database (NUDB). The new definitions of levels are used.
Immigration category is coded according to Standard for immigration category 2008 . The term other pupils comprise the pupils in immigration categories A, D, E, F and G.
Grouping of countries is coded according to SSB's alternative grouping of countries:
Group 1: EU/EEA, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Group 2: Asia, Africa, Latin-America, Oceania except Australia and New Zealand, and Europe except EU/EEA.
Administrative information
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Regional level
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National and county level.
Statistics on school and municipal level are available from the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training online in Skoleporten .
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Frequency and timeliness
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Annual
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International reporting
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Not relevant
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Microdata
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All education statistics at Statistics Norway is stored in a proper, standardized manner in consultation with the Data Inspectorate.
Background
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Background and purpose
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Overall achievement marks and examination marks aim to provide information about the pupils' competencies upon completion of compulsory education in Norway (10th grade in the lower secondary school). The purpose of the statistics are to provide an overview of the average level and distribution of marks in various subjects, and to assess variations in marks across groups of pupils categorised by characteristics such as gender, parental level of education, immigration category and school county.
Statistics on marks from lower secondary school are used for quality improvement and development purposes locally (schools, municipalities) as well as at the national level (Ministry and Directorate).
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Users and applications
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Important users of the education statistics are public administration, special interest organisations, the media, researchers, business and industry. Key users are in particular the Ministry of Education and Research and the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training
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Equal treatment of users
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No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
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Coherence with other statistics
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The statistics can be viewed in connection with education statistics covering pupils in primary and lower secondary schools.
There are some variations between the results in this statistics and the one published by UDIR because the selection criteria is different.
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Legal authority
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The Statistics Act of 16 June 1989 No. 54, section 2.2.
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EEA reference
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Not relevant
Production
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Population
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The statistics cover overall achievement marks and examination marks all main subjects and lower secondary school points (combined measurement for all marks) awarded upon completion of lower secondary school in Norway. External candidates and pupils in Steiner schools, Norwegian schools abroad and special schools are not included in the statistics. A pupil who has a school point score set to zero is not included in the statistics.
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Data sources and sampling
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Marks from lower secondary schools are reported from the schools to the counties' own administrative data system for upper secondary education, VIGO (marks from lower secondary schools are used in upper secondary enrolment procedures).
Each fall Statistics Norway recieves selected data on individuals and their school results, covering the previous academic year, from the central VIGO data base.
Not relevant
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Collection of data, editing and estimations
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Data is collected from administrative registers from the counties' main enrolment system, VIGO. The main purpose of VIGO is the management of the enrolment of pupils in upper secondary, hence it also covers pupils having completed their lower secondary education.
Marks from lower secondary schools are reported from the schools to the counties' local VIGO data bases. From these local data bases the information is transmitted to a central VIGO data base covering all counties as well as data from private schools
Each fall Statistics Norway recieves selected data on individuals and their school results, covering the previous academic year, from the central VIGO data base.
The data are subject to various controls such as deletion of duplicates, comparisons with former data sets and a control of correct and valid values for each variable. All Personal ID-numbers are checked for errors.
The statistics are based on enumerations of pupils by marks, and calculations of average marks and simple distributions of pupils by marks in various subjects. The calculation of lower secondary school points is described in 4.1. below.
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Seasonal adjustment
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Not relevant.
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Confidentiality
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The general rule is not to publish data if the number of pupils within a cell or unit in a table allows for identification of individuals.
The following criterias are applied in the statistics on marks, lower secondary school:
1. Distributions are not published for a group of pupils if there are less than five pupils with a single mark (e.g. four pupils with the mark
5) and the total number of pupils in the group is less than 30.2. Distributions are not published for a group of pupils if all these pupils have obtained the same mark.
3. Average marks based on fewer than ten observations are not published.
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Comparability over time and space
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Due to the Knowledge Promotion reform introduced in 10th grade in the academic year 2007-2008, there is not a direct correspondence with subjects prior to the reform, but most subjects are very similar. One should however be cautious when comparing marks prior to and after the introduction of the Knowledge Promotion reform.
The calculation of lower secondary school points has also changed over time as a result of the Knowledge Promotion reform, and comparisons should thus not be made between school points prior to and after the academic year 2007-2008.
At county or national level there are rather limited changes in average marks and distributions from one year to the next, whereas longitudinal shifts for small sub-groups of the pupils will be closely linked to random variations in the mass of pupils from one year to the next.
When comparing average results across counties, it is important to consider geographical variations in the composition of the population (e.g. with regards to characteristics such as educational attainment and income). When comparing results between small groups of pupils one should also consider the impact a few single pupils may have on the group averages/distributions.
When comparing marks with results from national tests in 8th grade one should keep in mind that the competencies covered by the national tests do not directly overlap those in the lower secondary curriculum for a given subject.
Due to the government's decision to cancel exams in lower secondary school, lower secondary school points in 2020 are only based on overall achievement marks, and are therefore not comparable with lower secondary school points from other school years.
Accuracy and reliability
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Sources of error and uncertainty
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When data is compiled from administrative registers, typical errors like measurement, non-response and sampling errors do not occur in the same sense as compared to statistics compiled by forms. Errors in data collected from administrative registers can be caused by uncertainties in the definition of variables and values between those responsible for the registers and others responsible for data collection from the registers.
Not relevant.
Not relevant. No sampling.
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Revision
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Not relevant.