RIYADH: In a new development, private schools in the Kingdom will undergo performance evaluations beginning Sunday.

According to the Public Education Evaluation Commission (PEEC), the newly accredited team of local specialists will visit private schools in the first phase of the operation to be followed by public schools at a later stage.

“The first phase assessment will cover 12 districts with 92 specialists divided into 37 teams,” said PEEC Deputy Gov. Saleh Al-Shamrani. “They will work fully independently of the Ministry of Education and this will have a positive impact on the credibility of their reports.”

The visits will be to primary, intermediate and secondary schools for boys and girls. Their primary mission is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in three key areas — school leadership quality, quality of education and teaching, in addition to personal development of the students.

This is based on the PEEC 18 standard areas, thereby taking advantage of the leading consulting firms and the best international practices.

The reports by the specialized teams will classify schools according to five criteria: Non-application of standards, to start the application of the criteria level, partial application of the criteria level, the full application of the criteria level, and finally the highest levels of the classification with the concept of all students working effectively in all classes.

In addition to activities that contribute to the development of students’ efficiency, Al-Shamrani noted that after the visits have been completed, the organizations will announce the results of these reports to determine eligibility levels of schools at the end of the current academic year.

They will be published on various media outlets with access to the PEEC website.

He said the commission has strict standards for evaluation of specialists to ensure their ability to work with professionalism. Of the 500 applicants, only 92 were able to obtain licenses from PEEC that qualify them to practice their profession.