Academic grading in Croatia

Academic grading in Croatia is regulated by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports.

Grading scale (numerical and descriptive)[]

In Croatia the following official grade scale applies to elementary school, high school and university students:

1 (nedovoljan) is a failing grade, while grades 2 through 5 are passing grades.

Many teachers use minus and plus symbols as grade modifiers. For example, "−5" denotes a grade slightly lower than "excellent", while "+4" denotes a grade slightly higher than "very good". Half-grades such as "4/5" are also used. These modifiers are unofficial and do not appear in final grade reports.

Conduct grading[]

Conduct (vladanje) is graded on a 3-point descriptive scale:

• Poor (loše)
• Good (dobro)
• Exemplary (uzorno)

In practice, most students receive "exemplary" conduct grades. Conduct grade does not count towards the grade point average.

Grade point average[]

Grade point average is calculated as the arithmetic mean of all numerical grades:

• 1.00–1.99 Insufficient
• 2.00–2.49 Sufficient
• 2.50–3.49 Good
• 3.50–4.49 Very good
• 4.50–5.00 Excellent

Grade inflation[]

A significant grade inflation has been observed in primary education and, to a lesser degree, in secondary education. In the 2008/09 school year, almost 168,000 out of 365,000 elementary school students were graded "excellent" by their grade point average. Parent pressure on teachers has been identified as a major cause.^[1]

References[]

Sources[]

• Pravilnik o načinu praćenja i ocjenjivanja učenika u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi (in Croatian)
• Zakon o odgoju i obrazovanju u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi (in Croatian)
• Različiti sustavi ocjenjivanja i usporedne ljestvice (in Croatian)
• Neopravdan sat »ruši« uzorno vladanje (in Croatian)
• Inflacija petica: U osnovnim školama odlikaša je više od 50 posto (in Croatian)
• Inflacija petica: više od 80 posto đaka je odlično (in Croatian)
• Umjesto talenata, odlikaši bez znanja pune gimnazije Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (in Croatian)