Improving education in Saudi Arabia through evaluation and assessment

As part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has launched comprehensive reforms aimed at enhancing the performance of the education system. With near-universal access already attained, the focus has shifted toward improving learning outcomes and ensuring high-quality education at all levels.

Such efforts are already yielding measurable improvements in learning outcomes. For instance, the average reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the Kingdom increased by the equivalent of nearly one year’s worth of schooling between 2016 and 2021. Similarly, student performance in mathematics and science in Grade 4 improved by almost two years’ worth of schooling between 2015 and 2023.

Despite the progress to date, students in Saudi Arabia still have ground to make up in order to reach international education benchmarks; some have not yet reached basic proficiency levels. These ongoing challenges are underscored in the new World Bank flagship report Embracing and Shaping Change: Human Development for a Middle East and North Africa in Transition, which highlights the critical role of education in addressing the profound transformation that the MENA region is facing.

International experience shows that setting educational standards and developing a culture of continuous improvement in education can help improve learning outcomes. The Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) plays a critical role here: it is responsible for setting and overseeing standards across all levels of the education system. Its core mandate includes the assessment, evaluation, and accreditation of education and training institutions.

Since 2015, the World Bank has worked closely with ETEC to strengthen its capacity in critical areas such as national assessment of learning outcomes, school evaluation and accreditation, system performance tracking, and data management. Increasingly, this collaboration involves leveraging ETEC’s rich data sources to inform policy decisions on tracking the performance of the education and training sectors at the student, school, and system levels. The World Bank has also partnered with ETEC to enhance Saudi Arabia’s National Assessments of Learning Outcomes Program (NAFS) as well as the launch of the new National Program for School Evaluation, Classification, and Accreditation. These initiatives have helped modernize the assessment ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, making evaluation processes more efficient, transparent, and accessible for all stakeholders.

Launched in 2022, NAFS monitors student performance every year in mathematics, science, and reading at Grades 3, 6, and 9. In May 2025, ETEC administered its fourth round of NAFS, reaching nearly 1.5 million students across almost 26,000 schools nationwide.

ETEC also launched the National Program for School Evaluation, Classification, and Accreditation at the end of 2023. As part of this program, each school first conducts a self-evaluation, carried out by its internal team, followed by an external evaluation conducted by trained school evaluation specialists. The evaluation is based on a set of standards across four domains: school administration, teaching and learning, learning outcomes, and the school environment. Notably, each school's NAFS results are directly reflected in the learning outcomes domain, ensuring that the overall evaluation is more focused on actual student achievement and measurable outcomes.

Each school receives a detailed evaluation report outlining its performance across all domains and indicators, which serves as a foundation for developing and implementing a targeted improvement plan. In parallel, the program grants national accreditation to private schools that demonstrate a high level of performance. This accreditation aims to foster public trust and ensure that schools not only maintain but also enhance their quality over time through evidence-based evaluations and institutional accountability.

In October 2025, the National Forum on School Excellence honored 760 schools achieving the “Excellence” level compared to 292 schools in 2024. The school evaluation results are used by entities like the Ministry of Education, the National Institute for Educational Professional Development, and the National Center for Curriculum to reform curriculum and teaching practices, and design targeted interventions for underperforming schools.

ETEC has strengthened its evaluation activities through the integration of digital technology, including the development of Tamayuz digital platform that automates evaluation processes, streamlines data analysis, and generates school evaluation reports. This innovative platform provides valuable data to educational leaders, enabling effective school follow-ups and direct communication with schools. Parents also benefit; in March 2024, ETEC launched the Mustaqbalhum application, which provides parents with easy access to their children's test results and school evaluation information. The app also offers practice assessments and simulated performance measures that help parents track their children's academic progress closely.

Improving the quality of education in Saudi Arabia is essential for enhancing learning outcomes, developing human capital, and driving sustainable economic growth. Through its work with ETEC’s comprehensive evaluation programs, the World Bank contributes to this goal, aligning with the national priorities of Saudi Vision 2030.