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 (0-50%)	Insufficient (nedovoljan)
2 (51%-69%)	Sufficient (dovoljan)
3 (70%-79%)	Good (dobar)
4 (80%-89%)	Very good (vrlo dobar)
5 (90%-100%)	Excellent (odličan in schools, izvrstan at universities)

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.

At universities, a grading scale from 5 to 10 was used prior to Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. The other former Yugoslav countries retained the old scale, while Croatia changed it to match the scale used in primary and secondary education.

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:

• 1.00–1.49 Insufficient
• 1.50–2.49 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]

Sources

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

References