The Impact of Summative Assessment on Students’ Social and Emotional Learning in Moroccan Public Secondary Schools

Despite many reforms to promote education quality in Morocco, assessment methods still target results and performances rather than competencies’ development. Educational policies have always been concerned with school and students’ performances based on summative assessment and standardized test results. The school’s mission is not limited to instruction and grades. The 21st century school needs to meet students’ psychological needs and to provide empowering learning environments. In this context, current assessment policies in Moroccan schools are based on making judgments targeting students’ results rather than the acquired competencies. Assessing students has become a compulsory practice that provides teachers and administration with grades and numbers void of meaning. However, assessment approaches have to challenge teachers’ conventional perceptions of assessment and create a free anxiety learning atmosphere. Assessment should be considered as a dynamic process implemented in a learner-centered environment that supports students’ social and emotional empowerment. In this perspective, this article discusses the impact of school grades on students' engagement and motivation as well as on their social and emotional learning through a quantitative study conducted among 1080 students in public secondary schools in order to reveal this impact and to shed light on the benefits of interactive and dynamic assessment in a social and emotional healthy setting. The study also analyzes secondary school teachers’ perceptions of summative assessment and grades.