Slovak Education Expert Calls for Shift Toward Formative Assessment in Schools

School report cards are not disappearing from Slovak classrooms, but what they measure needs to change, according to education expert J. Machaj. Machaj argues that Slovak schools should make far greater use of formative assessment — an ongoing approach to evaluating students that focuses on detailed, constructive feedback rather than simply assigning a grade. Meaningful feedback, he contends, tells students, parents, and teachers significantly more about a child's progress and understanding than a numerical or letter grade alone. The call reflects a broader debate in Slovak education about modernizing how student performance is evaluated, with critics of the current system arguing that traditional grading can obscure rather than illuminate a student's actual learning development.