The aim of the paper is to examine the assessment practices of lower secondary school students and to determine the extent to which these practices are compatible with the requirements of the curriculum, which aims to develop students` competencies. The data was collected through the comparative analysis of 36 assessment instruments from 17 schools in Kosovo. The most common practices of student assessment include assessment through tests, assessment through projects, quizzes, essays, and homework, while the most common and predominant practice is assessment through exam instruments. What differentiates these practices are objective, assessment planning, tasks, questions and other requirements. From the results, it appears that assessment planning is quite general in most cases and in some cases, it is not done at all. Although some of the forms of assessment are defined, the purpose is mostly missing and the learning outcomes that teachers should focus on when assessing each of the planned forms of assessment are missing. Also, the design of the exams used to assess students is mainly based on textbook content that focuses on reproducing information. Due to this form of assessment, there is a lack of assessment practices with a “developmental approach”, which is important and a prerequisite for students’ competent development.

teaching and learning, assessment practices, developmental approach, curriculum, skills development