For many years now, educational institutions and other agencies have been engaged in reforms to improve instructional programs and students’ academic achievement. A need for quality and appropriate assessment that will identify what students should know or what students should be able to do at a certain grade level in various subject areas is at the core of these reforms.

The Standards-Based Assessment (SBA) is a modern trend in education that will address the needs of schools for quality assessment.

An approach far different from traditional assessment, the SBA evaluates students’ performance based on the required standards for a specific grade level, rather than comparing a student’s performance with other students. Moreover, the SBA specifies academic performance standards by defining different levels of proficiency.

Based on Department of Education’s curriculum and International Standards, the SBA focuses on accepted Standards for each level from Preschool to High School. The SBA test measures student achievement and competencies in the core subject areas: English Language Arts, Mathematics and Science.